The Vigil of Remnant
by ShinigamiMaster
Summary: Remnant holds many secrets, most of them hidden for the good of Mankind and Fauna. The uncovering of said secrets can lead to unexpected consequences; as Seraph Argyros and his friends will discover on their journey to become Huntsmen and Huntresses. STATUS: PRIMARY FOCUS.
1. Welcome to Beacon

**Holy crap, I'm alive!**

 **Sooo, yeah, aside from real life being a bastarding bitch, I have no excuse for my long silence. Still, it's time, futhermuckers. My RWBY fic is getting started. And believe me, I've got PLANS for this thing, lads and lasses. BTW, my character's last name is pronounced Ar-gee-ross. Just so you know.  
**

 **Well, without further ado, let The Vigil of Remnant...begin!**

 **...**

"The robbery was led by nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities. If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you Lisa."

 _'Hah! If I have any info on that freakazoid's whereabouts, I'd take him down myself. Lucky for Torchwick that I'm off to Beacon for a while.'_

These were the thoughts of a 17 year old young man on an airship to Beacon Academy, Seraph Argyros. He stood at about 6'2", with shoulder-length slightly spiky black hair, and emerald-green eyes. He wore a silver t-shirt tucked into black jeans with a combat belt that held special equipment, like Grimm-strength flashbangs and instant smoke grenades, with a weapon holster on the back of the belt, black combat boots, an open blood-red leather longcoat with black shoulder pauldrons, the inside of which held numerous spare magazines for his weapon, which currently resided in said holster.

He was finally ready to begin his official training at one of the most prestigious academies in Remnant. He'd trained on his own, with his parents and both sets of grandparents for years. He then took the entrance exam, and passed beautifully. Now he was well on his way to beginning his Huntsman Journey.

The news feed that had been speaking of yet another White Fang incident was cut off as a hologram of a woman replaced it.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon!"

 _'Thank you, miss...?'_

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch."

 _'There you go.'_

"You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." The hologram vanished.

Seraph wouldn't lie, he was totally excited. So was everyone else, evidently, as he noticed them take in the view as they went by. He'd admit, it was nice, but he got to see views like that more often than one would think.

Eventually, the airship touched down on the landing platform. Students began disembarking, even as another guy went for the nearest trash can and vomited. He was a teenage boy, likely Seraph's age, give or take. He had messy blonde hair and dark blue eyes, wearing a black hoodie beneath a white chestplate and shoulder pauldrons, with a sword sheathed at his belt.

Seraph gave the poor bastard a look of sympathy. Motion sickness was a bitch and a half for those who got it.

He continued forward, but slowed to a stop at the sight before him. Beacon Academy. It was beautiful. It looked like Remnant's answer to Hogwarts. The most prominent part of the academy buildings was its large tower, surmounted by some form of signal light or something, likely the 'beacon' for which the place was named. The courtyard also had a large statue featuring two figures, one a male and the other a younger-looking female, standing on a rock outcropping, holding their weapons aloft. Beneath the outcropping was a Beowolf.

Seraph turned back towards the landing pads, beholding the vista beyond. Beacon sat an an impressive cliff's edge, overlooking the city of Vale from across the sound.

"Okay, I can't deny." he said to himself. "That's SOME view."

"What are you doing?!"

Seraph started, and turned back around, toward the source of the shout.

The source was a girl, with long white hair pulled back in an off-center ponytail and ice-blue eyes, her left eye bearing a crooked scar down it. She wore a white and light blue dress/combat skirt, with her weapon, a grey Multi-Action Dust Rapier at her waist. She was standing over a young girl with dark red hair and silver eyes, in a black and red dress/combat skirt and red hood. It seems the red haired girl had stumbled backward into a cart of luggage, scattering the cases. The white haired girl was certainly not amused.

Red got up on her hands.

"Uh, sorry!" She said.

"Sorry?! Do you have any idea of the damage you could have caused?" Said the angry girl.

 _'Well damn, what side of the bed did she wake up on? Probably UNDERNEATH. Ha.'_

Red was holding a case she knocked over. She handed to the girl.

"Uuhhh..."

"Give me that!" She said as she snatched the luggage from Red, opening it to reveal its potentially dangerous contents. Various forms of dust.

"This is Dust. Mined and purified from the Schnee quarry!" Red looked rather nervous at the moment. "Uuummm..."

"What are you, brain-dead?" She said holding out a vial of red Dust and shutting the case.

"Dust! Fire, water, lightning, energy!" White yelled at the poor girl, shaking the vial.

"I... I know..." She said, starting to cough from the Dust pouring into her face.

"Are you even listening to me? Is any of this sinking in? What have you got to say for yourself?!"

With the amount of dust getting in her face, the inevitable happened. She sneezed, which ignited the dust into an explosion of flame, snowflakes, and electricity right onto the angry girl, the dust vial she had been holding flying across the courtyard.

The smoke cleared, revealing the girl now covered in soot, which quickly disappeared. "Unbelievable!" she yelled. "This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"

 _'Aaaand, I've had just about enough of THIS bullshit.'_

Red, looking apologetic and embarrassed said "I'm really, really sorry!"

"Ugh, you complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"

"Well, she certainly looks it." Seraph interrupted, striding up to the girls, who both turned to him

"You know what's funny, Snow Angel?" Seraph began. "You seem to be going on about the volatility of Dust, and yet you seem to be carrying it around in unmarked cases. I'm pretty sure that's a safety violation, right?"

White said nothing, but blinked.

"And for your information, Miss Red here only sneezed an explosion because YOU wouldn't stop shaking that Dust vial in her face. Which is another safety violation, come to think of it. Perhaps you should take more time to properly care for your things, and LESS time scolding a nervous girl on their first day at a new location, no?"

Red seemed to appreciate Seraph standing up for her, as she was silently giggling at his damning words. White, on the other hand, seemed to be trying to glare him to death. In a millisecond, she had pulled her MADR from her hip, and almost shoved it up Seraph's nose. He blinked. Twice.

"You dare suggest that this is _my_ fault?!" she berated. "You think you can just waltz on up and speak to me like that?! I should cut you down where you stand!"

CLICK.

White looked down, seeing Seraph holding his weapon up, aimed at her middle. Its appearance resembled a black Auto 9 with a short katana-like blade running beneath the barrel and slightly out from it. It had a longer grip to hold its large magazines, and a dial on the side near the back. White was mildly surprised, as she hadn't even noticed him draw it.

"Go ahead, _princess._ " Seraph grinned cockily. "Make my day."

But at those words, a soft *ahem* drew the attention of all three. The interrupter this time being a girl with long wavy black-hair, a black bow tied in it. She had amber eyes, and wore a black waistcoat and a white undershirt, and white shorts with black-purple stockings. She also held the runaway Dust vial.

"It's heiress, actually." she stated.

"Eh?" Seraph vocalized his confusion.

"Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. One of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

Weiss was now smiling smugly.

"Finally! Some recognition!"

"The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners." Continued the girl.

And just like that, she was angry again as Red chuckled and Seraph simply smirked and said, "Ouch."

"Wha- How dare you- The nerve of... Ugh!"

She got up in the new girl's face, taking the bottle from her and walking off in a huff, her helpers gathering the luggage.

"I promise I'll make this up to you!" Red called to the retreating heiress.

"I guess rough first days are going around..." Seraph commented. "So, what's your..."He then noticed that the other girl had walked off as well. "Never mind."

Red then collapsed to the ground on her back.

"Welcome to Beacon..." she sighed. Seraph then joined her on the ground.

"...enjoy your stay." he said. Red at least smiled a little at that.

They both remained this way until a shadow shortly came over to the two.

"Hey... I'm Jaune." Said the figure. Red took one hand as Seraph took the other.

"Ruby." She said standing up.

"Seraph."

Ruby snickered a bit. "Aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?"

* * *

"All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on!" explained Jaune as the trio walked along a pathway.

"Look, I'm sorry! Vomit Boy was the first thing that came to mind." Said Ruby.

"Oh, yeah? What if I called you Crater Face?"

"I don't think there even WAS a crater." Seraph pointed out

"Yeah, and that explosion was an accident!" Ruby added.

"Well, the name's Jaune Arc! Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue - ladies love it!"

"Do they?" Ruby and Seraph both asked skeptically.

"They will! Well, I-I hope they will. My mom always says that... Never mind."

Seraph chuckled a bit and Ruby giggled, followed by a short, awkward silence.

"So... I got this thing!" Ruby pulled out her weapon, extending it into scythe mode, and stabbed it into the ground.

"Whoa!" Jaune yelped, jumping back a bit. "I-Is that a scythe?"

"It's also a customizable high-impact sniper rifle!" Said Ruby.

"A-wha...?".

Ruby cocked it, smiling.

"It's also a gun, dude." Seraph said with his own smile. _'Like every other weapon nowadays. I swear, one day, someone's gonna make a bow that's also a gun.'_

"Oh. That's cool!" Jaune said.

"So what've you got Jaune?" Seraph asked.

"Oh! I, uh..." He unsheathed his blade. "I got this sword!"

"Ooooohh!" Ruby and Seraph said.

"Yeah, and I've got a shield, too!" he got his scabbard, raised his arm and it unfolded into a heater shield.

"So, what do they do?" Ruby asked, poking the shield. Jaune fumbled with the shield as it retracted off his arm, expanded, and retracted again before Seraph caught it, retracted it, and handed it to Jaune, who placed it back on his belt.

"The shield gets smaller, so when I get tired of carrying it, I can just... put it away..."

"Wouldn't it weigh the same?" Ruby wondered.

"Yeah, it does..." Jaune responded dejectedly.

"Yeah, but this way it doesn't take up a lot of space, AND doubles as a handy scabbard for your sword, so you don't have to carry that all the time either." Seraph explained, pointing out more good points for his weapon.

"I guess so." Jaune nodded. "What about you, Seraph?"

Seraph grinned, reaching behind himself, and quickly drawing his gun, holding it up in the air.

"This is Kitsuki, my High Caliber Variable Ammunition Gunblade." Seraph began. "She uses ammunition specially made with a chemically-altered Dust that allows it to take different effects depending on the setting. Concussive, Incendiary, Armor-Piercing, Explosive, you name it. Then when I want to do more close-range fighting..." He morphed Kitsuki into its melee-oriented form, which took the shape of a katana. "She's one hell of a weapon, to be sure."

"Yeah, that's actually really cool." Jaune said.

"Cool? It's totally awesome!" Ruby gushed.

"Heh, thanks. Y'know, I don't think you guys mentioned your weapons' names."

"Oh, well, mine's named Crocea Mors." Jaune responded.

"And this is my Crescent Rose!" Ruby added, hugging her scythe. "I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons, so I guess I did go a little overboard when designing it."

"Wait - you made that?!" Jaune asked.

"Of course! All students at Signal forge their own weapons! Didn't you guys make yours?".

"I did." Seraph said, putting Kitsuki back into gun mode and stowing it. "Though, admittedly, my family helped me out with it."

"Mine's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war."

"A family heirloom, huh? I think that gives it character, I like it." Seraph said

"Me too!" Ruby agreed. "Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days." She refolded and holstered her weapon.

Jaune sheathed his sword. "Yeah, the classics..."

They continued to walk further down the path.

"So what brought you to us Jaune?" Ruby asked.

"Eh, why not? My mom always says, strangers are just friends you haven't met yet'."

"Y'know what, I think that's a policy I can get behind." Seraph remarked.

Ruby looked around, "Hey guys, where are we going?"

"Oh, I don't know! I was following you." said Jaune.

"Same here, I was just following you guys." Seraph admitted.

"Y-You think there might be a directory? Maybe a food court? Some kind of recognizable landmark? Is, uh... Is that a 'no'?"

"Heh. That's a 'no'."

* * *

The three friends eventually arrived at the audience chamber through the main entrance of the Academy. It was the grand assembly area where meetings of the student body would be held for various purposes. If this place was Remnant Hogwarts, then this was certainly the Great Hall.

"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" A girl with long curly blonde hair with purple eyes dressed in browns and yellows beckoned to Ruby.

"Hey, guys, I gotta go! I'll see you two after the ceremony!" Ruby said, about to leave.

"Hold up, I'm coming with you." Seraph said. "I'm gonna apply Jaune's mom's methodology here; meet the strangers that are actually friends." Ruby nodded, and the two left Jaune.

"Hey wait!" Jaune sighed. "Great. Where am I supposed to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?"

As he walked away, he didn't seem to notice the armored redhead who watched him with mild interest.

Ruby and Seraph soon reached the blonde. "Hey, Ruby, who's your friend?" she asked.

"Oh, this is Seraph! He helped me out of a bind earlier."

"Nice to meet you. Seraph Argyros." Seraph said, holding out his hand.

"Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's big sister." Yang responded, shaking the offered hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

She then turned back to Ruby. "So, how's you're first day going, little sister?"

"You mean when you ditched me and I exploded?" Ruby said in a huff.

"Yikes. Meltdown already?"

"Not from her, anyways." Seraph muttered to himself.

"No, I _literally_ exploded a hole in front of the school! And there was some fire… And, I think some ice…?"

Yang leaned towards Ruby, a broad smile on her face.

"Are you being sarcastic?" Yang seemed to be playing dumb, like she knew that Ruby was hiding something. Ruby scoffed.

"I wish! I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, then she yelled at me. And then I sneezed, then I _exploded_ , and I felt really bad, but Seraph helped me out, giving the crabby girl some lecture about Dust safety, and I just wanted her to stop yelling-"

"You!" Yelled Weiss, who had approached from the side.

Ruby leapt into Seraph's arms out of fear and said rapidly, "Oh god, it's happening again!"

"You're lucky we didn't get blown off the side of the cliff!"

"Oh my god, you really exploded." Yang said in surprise.

Ruby got out of Seraph's arms and stood on the ground again.

"It was an accident!" she pleaded.

Weiss instead took out a pamphlet out of her sleeve and put it in front of Ruby's face.

 _'"Dust for Dummies and Other Inadequate Individuals". Seriously?'_ thought Seraph

"The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product. AlthoughnotmandatorytheSchneeFamilyhighlyencouragescustomerstoreadandfamiliarizethemselveswiththiseasytofollowguidetoDustapplicationsandpracticesinthefield."

Ruby blinked twice, clearly not understanding her somehow rapid words. Seraph got the notion to snatch the pamphlet out of her hands, rip it up, then start to eat it, just to make a point. He quickly dismissed the notion as a minor bout of madness.

"You really want to start making things up to me?"

"Absolutely." Ruby assured.

Weiss then handed the pamphlet to Ruby.

"Then read this and don't ever speak to me again."

"Look, for the umpteenth time, it was an accident!" Seraph countered. "One that, need I remind you, was caused by YOU, princess."

Weiss turned to Seraph, trying to glare a hole in him yet again. Seraph stood his ground, returning the gaze.

"Look, maybe you guys just got off on the wrong foot." Yang said, attempting to play mediator. "Why don't you start over?"

"Great idea, sis! I'll go first." Ruby offered her hand to Weiss.

"Hello, Weiss. I'm Ruby. Wanna hang out? We could go shopping for school supplies?"

Weiss immediately changed her look of fury, to one of girlish excitement.

"Yeah! And we can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys, like tall, blonde and… scraggly over there!" She offered, pointing her thumb towards Jaune, who perked up at his mention. She then switched her thumb to Seraph. "Ooh! Or maybe tall, dark and..." She paused, seeming to reappraise Seraph. "...reasonably handsome right here!"

Seraph raised an eyebrow. _'Reasonably handsome? Well, it's better than nothing.'_

"Wow, really?!" Ruby's face seemed to light up as the sarcasm went over her head. Weiss, however, now had a grim look on her face, still pointing at Seraph.

"NO."

Seraph was going to retort again, but the four were distracted by a microphone being tapped over a speaker. Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon, had taken the stage, and he looked as enigmatic as ever. Adjusting his glasses, he began to speak to everyone.

"I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge - to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction."

Everyone began whispering amidst themselves, perplexed by the Headmaster's words. They had expected a warm welcome, maybe even some kind of "Congratulations", instead they got...whatever this was.

"You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

And with that, Ozpin stepped off of the stage. The woman behind him, Glynda Goodwitch, took the microphone.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." Goodwitch told us. Then she disappeared after Ozpin, taking the microphone with her. As other students began to talk about what had been said, others began to leave to explore the area.

"And the Emmy for 'Motivational Speech of the Year' goes to..." Seraph deadpanned. This got a giggle out of Ruby and Yang, even Weiss smiled slightly despite herself..

"He seemed a little… off." Yang commented. Ruby nodded in agreement.

"It's almost like he wasn't even there." She added. Suddenly, Jaune had sidled in next to Seraph and Weiss.

"I'm a natural blonde, you know."

Weiss and Seraph simultaneously facepalmed at Jaune's attempt at 'charming' Weiss.

* * *

It was night time. Everyone was gathered in the ballroom either sleeping or making preparations to sleep. Ruby was tasking away at something in her book. For nighttime, she wore a black top, pink pajamas with pink roses and a sleeping mask with sharp red eyes on the front.

"It's like a big slumber party!" Yang exclaimed as she fell on her sleeping bag next to Ruby. She wore a yellow top with her symbol on it with plain green pajamas.

"I don't think dad would approve of all the boys though." Ruby said, still writing.

"I know I do! Raawwwrrr!" She said.

Yang then stared off into the crowds of boys that were either head locking each other or flexing shirtless. Likely to impress the girls who hadn't gone to sleep yet. It seemed to be working. Somewhat. Then Jaune walked by in his full blue onesie pajama with bunny slippers. Jaune stopped as he saw Yang. She only shivered as she turned her gaze from him.

"What's that?" She asked Ruby.

"A letter back to the gang at Signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going."

"Awwww! That's so cute!" Yang said jokingly.

"Shut up!" Ruby said, tossing a pillow at Yang's face, which she caught...with her face.

"It sucks not being able to have my old friends here with me and its weird not knowing anyone here."

"What about Jaune? He's...nice. And Seraph! He's an even nicer guy and better friend! He's pretty hot, too!" She glanced over to where the aforementioned Seraph had lain his sleeping bag, close by. He was shirtless, and in a comfortable pair of silver pajama pants. He was currently stretching out, which ended up showing his not-overly-but-still-well-defined muscles. She noted that a few girls who hadn't gone to sleep yet were staring at him too. "See! There you go! That's a two hundred percent increase!"

"Pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend."

"There's no such thing as negative friends! You just made two friends and one enemy."

Ruby threw another pillow at Yang, which her face also caught.

She finished writing and sat on her sleeping bag, head on her pillow, arms behind her head.

"Look, it's been only one day. Trust me, you've got friends all around you. You just haven't meet all of them yet."

Ruby then got up and looked. She saw the girl with black hair from earlier. She wore some sort of black robe pajamas, and was reading a book with a unique blue color scheme.

"That girl..."

"You know her?"

"Not really. She saw what happened this morning but left before I could say anything."

"Well, now's your chance!"

Yang grabbed Ruby's arm and was pulling her towards the girl with long black hair and bow.

Meanwhile, Seraph had finished stretching, and laid down on his bag. He wondered what tomorrow's initiation test would bring. His parents wouldn't tell him squat when he asked, not even a hint. Whatever it was, he knew he'd just have to deal with it.

"Hello!" he heard Yang say over yonder. He looked and saw she and Ruby had approached a black-haired girl, the same girl from this morning who walked off. The sisters were attempting to introduce themselves and make small talk.

It became evident they were failing. Miserably.

 _'Okay, time to intervene.'_ thought Seraph. _'First thing to do is find some common ground. Some common-'_

He stopped when he noticed the blue book she was holding. And the title...

 _'Well, hellooo, common ground.'_ he thought happily, as he got up.

"I like your bow!" Yang remarked

"Thanks." Blake said

"It goes great with your...pajamas!"

"Right."

Ruby and Yang nervously laughed.

"Excuse me." Seraph said as he approached, catching the three girls' attention. "I couldn't help but overhear your...conversation, then noticed the book you've got. That wouldn't happen to be 'Doctor Who: The War of 96', would it? The novel where The 10th Doctor helps Earth fight back against the ancient Harvesters?"

"Yes, yes it is." Blake said, slightly surprised.

"It's one of my favorites." Seraph said, sitting down. "What part are you at, by the way?"

"I just finished the part where the President's wife passed away from her injuries, which were left too long for The Doctor to help her. He told his daughter that her mother was sleeping. Then as The Doctor looks on, he mutters-"

"No more." Seraph finished, grinning. "That part gave me chills." Blake smiled back.

"I love books." Ruby stepped in. "Yang used to read me every night before bed. Stories of heroes, monsters...they're one of the reasons I want to be a Huntress."

"Why is that?" Blake asked. "Hoping you'll live happily ever after?"

"I hope we all do. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books. As someone who fought for what was right and who protected people who couldn't protect themselves."

"That's very ambitious for a child. Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale."

"Well, that's why we're here. To make it better."

"Damn right." Seraph affirmed

"Oh I am so proud of my baby sister!" Yang said as she hugged Ruby with her infamous bear hug.

"Cut it out!"

There was a small struggle between the two for a short amount of time.

"I apologize for the interruption. For all of us." Seraph said apologetically. "Seraph Argyros" He offered his hand.

"Blake Belladonna." She said, shaking it.

"Nice to see a fellow Whovian, and book fanatic, here at Beacon."

"What in the world is going on here?!" Shouted an angry Weiss as she approached the group. She wore a light blue sleeping gown. "Don't you people know some of us are trying to sleep?!"

"Oh, not you again!" Weiss and Yang spat in stereo.

"Sh! Guys! She's right! People are trying to sleep." Ruby warned

"Oh, now you're on my side?" Weiss asked crossly

"I was always on your side!"

"Yeah! What's your problem with my sister?"

Blake closed her book as she grabbed the candle she was using to read.

"She's only trying to be nice!" Said Yang.

"She's a hazard to my health!"

"SILENCE!" Seraph yelled. All three girls stopped their bickering, and thankfully, he hadn't interrupted anyone's sleep. Yet. "Look, arguing right now is pointless, let's all just get to bed. We've got a long day ahead. Can we all agree on THAT MUCH?"

The three girls nodded, and Weiss walked back to her own sleeping bag.

"Well, goodnight, guys." Ruby said.

There was a variation of 'goodnight' from Yang, Seraph and Blake, as Blake blew out her reading candle, and the other three retired to their respective sleeping bags.

As Seraph laid down, however, he was unsure if his night was going to be 'good' or not. It was always a lottery with...'him'.

* * *

 _Seraph looked around. He appeared to be in the courtyard of Beacon Academy, except it was heavily shrouded in creeping shadowy darkness._

'I knew it. Here we go again.' _he thought._ 'At least it's a change from the usual shrouded Vale Plaza.'

 _'Fufufufu." he heard echoing behind him. Seraph sighed. Here he comes._

 _"Back again, asshole?" he said, turning around. "Been a while since last time."_

 _A figure took shape in the dark shroud. A tall man in a black coat, his face mostly covered by the shroud, only his lower face, with a smug evil smirk, was visible._

 _"Hello to you too, Seraph." the figure said in a smooth voice. "Enjoying your life, I take it?" Seraph rolled his eyes._

 _"I'm gonna go ahead and stop you there." he said. "We go through this every time. Your evil threats and such have been repeated ad nauseum for so long, that it's honestly just annoying at this point." Seraph smiled mockingly. "Some evil-alter-ego you turned out to be."  
_

 _"Indeed. I suppose like every great artist, I need new material. But something has happened recently, something that will go a long way in helping me."_

 _"Eh?"_

 _The figure smirked wider at him. "You've met such...interesting people today, Seraph. Very interesting indeed."_

 _Seraph's eyes widened, then grew hard. "Don't even think about it." he warned harshly. The figure strode forward, the shroud following him._

 _"You know, everyone always says that to others, and it's pointless either because it's too late and they already thought about it, or they think about it immediately after. Me, well, I'm FAR past thinking about it." He began to pace around Seraph in a circle.  
_

 _"All of these new faces...the adorable red-hooded Ruby...her precious big sister Yang...the nice Whovian girl Blake...the hapless blonde Jaune...even that crabby Schnee Heiress. You all care for them to some degree, if only a little..."_

 _As the figure listed each name, a scream of agony from the person in question loudly echoed in the shrouded courtyard. Each one grating on Seraph's very soul._

 _"Shut up." Seraph muttered._

 _"Because of how you care...It'll make it all the more satisfying when I tear them from you. Preferably limb by limb."_

 _"Just shut UP."_

 _"You ALWAYS ask me to shut up, and do I ever listen? No." He stopped behind Seraph, leaning in towards him. "One of these days, I'll be free again. And I'll take away all that you cherish. So...let me ask you...who should I kill first?" You could hear the evil grin in his voice._

 _"I SAID SHUT UP!" Seraph screamed, turning to batter the figure with his arm. Only to hit nothing, as he was no longer behind him. "You are NEVER getting out again! I'll endure nightmares for the rest of my life, as long as it keeps you here in my head, where you belong, away from everyone!"_

 _"Fufufufufufu." the figure chuckled, his voice echoing everywhere. "Oh, Seraph, you poor bastard. You really believe your foolish naivety will last forever, don't you? Just you wait. One day, you'll see. One day, your heart will become as dark and as black as **MINE**!" Seraph turned just in time to watch the figure plunge his hand into Seraph's chest, right into his heart._

* * *

Seraph sat bolt upright, clutching at his heart and breathing heavily. Looking around, he saw he was still in the ballroom, and everyone was still lying down, clearly asleep.

"God DAMMIT." Seraph swore. Since he was totally awake now, he decided some fresh air would do him some good.

He stepped out of his sleeping bag and stood up, silently making his way to the door, taking care not to step on any sleeping students. As he reached the door, he opened and passed through it, finding himself on a balcony of some sort overlooking Vale. He shut the door, strode to the railing, and took a breath of fresh, cool air.

The Other Guy. He'd been plaguing Seraph's mind for years now. He was some sort of twisted, psychotic evil personality living in Seraph's head, always saying how he'd take over and do horrifying things to everyone he cared about, and beyond.

"That little bitch is gonna make me snap, I swear to God." he growled.

"Is Weiss really that bad?"

Seraph jumped, then turned around. He saw someone standing in shadow. The person stepped out into the moonlight to reveal...Jaune in his bunny slippers onesie.

"Jaune!" Seraph exclaimed. "Please don't do that."

"Sorry." he apologized, joining Seraph on the railing. "But seriously, Weiss isn't THAT bad, right?"

Seraph took a minute, then remembered what he'd said a moment ago. "Oh, no. Not Weiss. I just...had a really bad nightmare is all. I don't really want to talk about it, thanks."

"Alright."

Seraph searched for a change in topic, and came up with a decent one.

"Hey, Jaune." he started. "What's your family like? Like your parents and all?"

Jaune looked up at him, then breathed deeply.

"My dad was a Huntsman a long time ago. He's been retired since he lost his leg, but he can still handle himself pretty well. Mom, well...eh, she's a little overbearing. She'd flip out over almost any minor injury I'd get. She wouldn't even let me pick up a weapon until I was fifteen."

"Hah, yeah. Mothers. I get that." Seraph said. "Any siblings to speak of?"

"Ehehe, yeah." he chuckled nervously. "Sisters...seven of them."

Seraph's eyes widened. "YIKES. That had to be a hassle growing up."

Jaune sighed. "You have NO idea." He turned back to Seraph. "What about you, man?"

Seraph smiled a bit. "I'm a Third Generation Huntsman. My parents were Huntsman and Huntress, and both of their parents were as well. Mom and Dad sometimes go out on solo or duo missions, but my grandparents are retired, of course. They all opened up a specialty Dust weaponry shop together. You may have heard of it, Gotei Arms? It's where I get my ammo for Kitsuki and my specialty gear."

"Oh yeah, I think I have." Jaune nodded. "You have any siblings?"

Seraph's smile faltered a bit. "Yeah. I've got my twin sister, Lily. She's really awesome. She used to want to be a Huntress as bad as Ruby did, but..."

"But what?"

Seraph's smile faded completely as he hesitated. "We had an older brother, Rayleigh. We lost him some time ago."

"Oh. Is it alright to ask what happened, or should I...?"

"Nah, it's fine. Rayleigh was, like, the coolest big brother ever. He was the inspiration for Lily and I to follow in his footsteps, to become heroes like him. But years ago, an incident went down in Vale. The panic and fear naturally drew in the Grimm. There was a really bad one, that threatened to cause a lot of damage. Rayleigh pushed it out of Vale, and drew it further away on his own. By the time anyone could go looking for him, they couldn't find a trace of him anywhere. It's like he up and vanished. He was declared MIA, presumed dead."

"Geez. I-I'm really sorry."

"Thanks. He was posthumously celebrated for his sacrifice. Lily was traumatized by what happened, and stopped wanting to be a Huntress. She still trains with the family, mostly to make sure she can defend herself, and in case she changes her mind. She has been coming around to the idea lately, but there's no guarantee."

"But where her resolve was broken...mine was hardened. I had to become a Huntsman, I wasn't going to let fear compromise my dream. I had to keep moving forward...for him." Seraph's eyes now held a look of grim determination.

Jaune nodded. "Yeah."

As a slightly awkward silence fell, they heard the door open. they turned to see a pair of golden eyes glinting in the darkness. They moved forward, revealing Blake stepping out from the shadows.

"Seraph? Jaune?" She asked. They nodded, wordlessly asking what was up. She motioned back to the door.

"Ruby's having problems. Yang needs you two to help her calm down." She said quickly. The boys shared a look, then, nodding simultaneously, dashed back through the door, seeing Yang attempting to restrain a thrashing Ruby. They rushed over, trying not to wake anyone else. Yang turned to the boys, her face a mask of worry.

"What's wrong?" Jaune asked.

"Ruby has night terrors sometimes. Normally, they're not bad, but I can't keep her under control this time." She whispered, a fearful undertone in her voice.

Seraph immediately clutched Ruby's wrist, trying to stop her from hurting someone. Her spasms were stronger than expected, and his grip failed. Jaune moved forward to help, and got a foot to the nose for his trouble.

Seraph managed to grip Ruby's hand again, pinning it to the ground. She unconsciously resisted, but he wasn't about to let his friend continue to suffer. Yang leapt onto her, shaking Ruby by the shoulders, while she sobbed something almost unintelligible.

"Mom…please...don't…leave…help…"

Seraph froze up. This was not the first time he'd dealt with someone having night terrors, just the first with someone stronger than normal. At those words, for a moment, Ruby vanished, and in her place was Lily Argyros.

"Ruby! Ruby, wake up! Please!" Yang begged quietly, tears ready to fall. Ruby just moaned, and threw her off like she weighed nothing.

Seraph snapped out of it, remembering what he had to do. He grabbed Ruby, and held her tightly in a sitting hug. She struggled, but he was just strong enough to stop her. Then...he began to sing softly.

 _"Let it all out, let it all out_  
 _You don't have to think your heart is made of steel_  
 _Come away now, from your own doubt_  
 _Like a flower of hope that's growing in a field, you will heal"_

It seemed to be working, as Ruby's struggles were begining to lessen.

 _"Although the road has changed you_  
 _And the world has often failed you_  
 _You've gotta carry on and show them you're strong, You've gotta bury what is past and gone_  
 _Some days will be worse than others_  
 _But you've gotta find another way-ay-ay_  
 _Through pain and fear, or rain and tears,_  
 _We will hold on to the light_  
 _We'll chase the dawn that waits for us beyond the darkest sky. Keep following that distant star_  
 _Never walk away from who you are_  
 _Never forget that your future's waiting up ahead"_

By now, her thrashing had weakened to where she was just twitching. Seraph, happy that he'd managed to calm Ruby down, finished his song.

 _"As seasons change and rearrange_  
 _And the sands of time descend_  
 _As all your hope starts vanishing you'll always have a friend. In brightest day or darkest night_  
 _Even if we have to say goodbye_  
 _You'll be alright_  
 _I will always and forever be by your side"_

As he finished, Seraph looked down to Ruby, her face buried in his chest. Slowly, her head rolled back, and silver eyes blearily opened, locking with Seraph's green.

"Yang? Is that you?" She asked sleepily, tears still streaming down her face. Seraph smiled and shook his head.

"Guess again, Red Reaper. It's Seraph. Relax, you were having a night terror." he soothed, stroking her hair. He gently lowered her back onto her bed roll. Yang knelt beside her, stroking her forehead.

"You're okay, Ruby. Just don't think about it. Go back to sleep." Yang smiled, cheeks glistening with tears. Ruby nodded.

"Seraph...was that you singing?" she asked.

"Yep."

"It was nice." she smiled, and shut her eyes, returning to sleep. Yang looked at Seraph, smiling gratefully.

"Seraph, thank you so much. She doesn't usually get that bad. I have to ask, though, how'd you know that'd work?"

"My sister, Lily. She had night terrors for a long time due to...certain events. Mom would sing that to her when she could, and I did when she couldn't. Figured it would work here too."

Yang nodded happily, then turned and went back to sleep herself. Seraph turned to the other person still awake.

"Jaune, you alright?" he asked. "It looked like she got you good."

"...ow." came the eloquent response.

From what he could tell, there wasn't any lasting damage done to his nose that wouldn't be gone by morning.

"You'll be alright after some rest. G'night, Jaune." Seraph assured, returning to his own spot.

"Yep. Night."

Seraph got resettled into his sleeping bag, content with how the situation was resolved. He drifted off to sleep, nightmares no longer giving him trouble.

However, in another spot in the room, an awake Weiss had seen the entire thing, and was contemplating to herself.

 _'Maybe he's not such a bad guy after all.'_ she concluded. She then turned over, and went back to sleep. _  
_

 **...**

 **The song Seraph sang to Ruby was 'Let it Out' by Fukuhara Miho (English Translated by Mikutan) look it up on Youtube.**

 **There's a secret to why I named Seraph's HCVA Gunblade Kitsuki. If you find it out, tell me. Also, If you need another reference to Kitsuki's appearance, check Mark Zhang's 'Charcoal Trailer'. The character's weapon, Magnum Opus, is close to what I'm going for.  
**

 **Also, shoutout to Andy2396, for helping me get the ball rolling on this story. Stay awesome, you beautiful SOB. And remember, everyone...**

 **You just lost The Game.**

 **LLaP**


	2. Players and Pieces

**I wonder if I broke my own personal record for upload speed?**

 **Oh, who am I kidding. Of course I did.  
**

 **By the way, I would appreciate seeing the people who read my story to review. Even if it's something simple like, "Nice chapter, keep 'er going.". Or even some constructive criticism. The former gives me encouragement, the latter helps me improve as I go, hopefully. Just saying.**

 **Also, if you want to read Seraph's lines in someone's voice in your head like for the others, I personally prefer Sean Schemmel. Maybe Johnny Yong Bosch, IDK.**

 **Welp, here's the 2nd chapter of The Vigil of Remnant, where our heroes take the initiation test. Enjoy!**

 **...**

"I know! We'll have some sort of signal! Like a distress signal!"

The excited babble-planning was coming from a girl with orange hair and turquoise eyes, wearing a mishmash of different clothing that included a black vest and pink skirt. This hyperactive girl's name was Nora Valkyrie.

She was speaking at her oldest friend (who seemed to be stoically taking her rambling as if it were an everyday thing), a young man with sorta spiky black hair in a long ponytail midway down his back that had a magenta streak in it, with equally magenta eyes. He wore a dark green tailcoat and tan pants. His name was Lie Ren.

Ren worked on his weapons, a pair of green SMGs with extended magazines and outwards curved folding blades called The Stormflowers, while he was listening to Nora.

"A secret signal! That way we can find each other in the forest! Can you imitate a sloth?" Nora suddenly asked.

"Nora..."

"Yes, Ren?"

Ren then concealed his weapons up his loose sleeves. "I don't think sloths make a lot of noise."

"That's why it's perfect! No one will suspect we're working together!"

"Come on Nora. Let's go."

"But not, 'together-together'." she giggled.

The two walked out of the room together.

They passed Ruby, Yang and Seraph, who were all dressed in their normal outfits, weapons at the ready. Seraph had double and triple checked the number of spare mags he had in his coat, so that he'd be aware when he ran out. IF he ran out.

"I wonder what they're so worked up about." Ruby said.

"With those two, God only knows " Seraph responded. He'd met the two this morning, getting to know the inseparable pair a little bit. Ren was a pretty chill guy. Nora was...a character, that's for sure.

"So, you seem awfully chipper this morning!" Yang observed.

"Yep! No more awkward small talk! Or getting to know you stuff. Today I get to let my sweetheart do the talking!" Ruby said cheerfully, as she pet her Crescent Rose in its compact form.

"Well Ruby, just remember your not the only one going through initiation. If you want to grow up, you're going to have to meet new people and learn to work together."

"Ugggghhhh! You sound like Dad!" Ruby complained. "Okay, first of all, what does meeting people have to do with fighting? And secondly, I don't need people to help me grow up! I drink milk!"

Seraph snorted at her last comment.

"But what about when we form teams?" Yang asked.

"I...I don't know. I guess I'll be on your team or Seraph's team or something."

"Maybe you should try being on someone else's team." Yang said, nervously stroking her hair.

"My dearest sister Yang! Are you implying that you do not wish to be on the same team as me?!"

Seraph stayed silent, this was getting more amusing by the second.

"What?! No! Of course I do! I just thought...I don't know. Maybe it would help break you out of your shell?"

"What the-! I don't need to break out of my shell! That's absolutely-"

"Ridiculous!" Jaune said, walking by with a piece of paper in his hand.

"There's no way I put my gear in locker 363 yesterday! I would have remembered to count that high! Ugh, why does this have to happen today?!"

Jaune walked past Weiss who was talking to someone else. She was an extremely attractive young woman who had her red hair in a waist length ponytail and had vivid green eyes. Her outfit was also rather interesting, as it seemed to be inspired by Trojan Warrior Armor, including a light brown strapless top over a low bronze v-neck, a black miniskirt, and a red ankle-length drapery round her waist. She was the famous Mistral champ, Pyrrha Nikos.

"So Pyrrha, have you given any thought on who's team you'd like to be on?" Weiss asked her. "I'm sure that everyone must be eager to unite forces with such a strong and eager individual such as yourself."

"Hmmmm...I'm not quite sure Weiss. I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may."

"Well I was thinking that you and I can be on a team together!"

"Well that sounds grand!" Said Pyrrha.

"Great!" ' _This will be perfect!'_ Weiss schemed in her head. _'The smartest girl in class combined with the strongest girl in class! Together, we will be unstoppable! I can see it now! We'll be popular! We'll be celebrities! We'll get perfect grades! Nothing can come between us now!'_

 _'Why am I suddenly getting the feeling that a villainous plot is being hatched somewhere close by?'_ Seraph wondered.

"You know what else is great? Me. Jaune Arc." Jaune broke in, leaning against a locker.

 _'Oh God, is he really?'_ Seraph thought, watching as Jaune tried to act all smooth with Weiss. _'He is. Dammit. I think he might have taken Weiss talking about him yesterday a little too seriously.'  
_

"Hey, Seraph?" Ruby piped up.

"Yes?"

"About last night. Thanks for helping me out and all, but I wanted to ask...where did you learn to sing like that? It was really awesome."

Seraph chuckled, fiddling with Kitsuki a bit. "Please. I'm not that good. Nowhere NEAR professional. That was just my mom's favorite song. When she couldn't be around to sing it to Lily, I decided to learn right quick to do it my own damn self." He grinned. "You REALLY wanna hear awesome? Wait till you hear me sing Micheal Jackson. I've got his voice down pretty well."

"Really?" asked Yang. "And how'd you go about that?"

"It's just like any other skill, Yang. All you need is a little practice." He twirled Kitsuki on his finger a few times, then smoothly slotted it into his holster. Seraph turned to the left...

In time to see Jaune get pinned to the wall by Pyrrha's spear. Obviously, things did not go as planned.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha apologized.

"Would all first year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation." came Glynda's voice over the loudspeakers. " Again, all first year students, report to the Beacon Cliffs."

All the first years filed out of locker room, and Jaune was unpinned as Pyrrha retrieved her spear.

"Nice meeting you, Jaune!" She said as she walked out with a smile.

"Likewise..." he said, slumping against the locker.

Seraph, Ruby and Yang walked up to the poor guy and Seraph pulled Jaune up by his arm.

"Having some trouble there, lady killer?" Yang asked teasingly.

"I don't understand...my dad said that all women look for is confidence. Where did I go wrong?"

"Jaune, women are exceedingly different creatures." Seraph explained sagely. "As mere men, we are not able to comprehend their thought processes." He turned to the two girls present. "No offense."

"None taken." Yang said

"Come on, Jaune."

* * *

Everyone was gathered on the cliff side. Seraph, Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss, Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora, and several other students stood at attention, awaiting Professor Ozpin's instructions.

"For years, you have been trained as warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." He explained.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams." Ms. Goodwitch began. "Well, allow us to put and end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. TODAY."

Ruby moaned in disappointment.

"These teammates will be your partners for the rest of your time here at Beacon." Ozpin continued. "So it may be in your best interests to be paired with someone you can work well with. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"What?!" Screamed Ruby silently. Seraph swore he heard shattered glass.

"See, I told you." Nora told Ren.

"Once you are partnered up, make your way up to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your way. Or you will die."

 _'How delightfully macabre.'_ Seraph thought.

Jaune laughed nervously.

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation. But your instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path, containing many relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

"Yes, um, sir?" Jaune tried to ask.

"Good. Now, take your positions."

Everyone got into their own ready-position, except for Jaune, hand still raised.

"Sir? I have a question?" he asked once more.

The tiles began to launch students into the air, one after another every couple seconds.

"What is this 'landing strategy' thing? Are you dropping us off or something?"

"No. You will be falling." Ozpin stated, holding his mug up, ready to sip at his tea.

"Oh...I see. Did you, uh, hand out parachutes for us?"

"No. You will be using your own landing strategy."

"Uh-huh."

Yang winked, then put on some yellow aviator glasses and launched off into the sky with a smile, followed by Ruby.

"Relax Jaune, you'll make it." Seraph assured his friend. "I believe in you."

"So, um, what exactly is a landing strategeeeeey!"

Jaune was launched into the air before he could complete his sentence. Seraph looked at Ozpin, and noticed he was smiling at him. Seraph gave him a raised eyebrow.

 _'He has something planned for me, I just know it. Devious SOB.'  
_

He then launched into the air after everyone else. Ozpin simply smiled as he watched his students fly off into the sky, taking a sip from his mug.

* * *

Most everyone had managed to concoct their own form of landing strategy on the fly (no pun intended). Ruby fired Crescent Rose a few times, using the recoil to slow down, then shifted to scythe mode to catch a tree branch.

Weiss, armed with Myrtenaster, summoned a white glyph beneath her and leapt off of it into the forest below.

Ren spun in the air as he descended, eventually using StormFlower's blades to spiral around the trunk of a large tree and hit the ground, brushing off his clothes before looking up to see...

"Woo-hoo! Yeah! Alley-oop!"

Yang, soaring right over the treetops, using Ember Celica, her shot-gauntlets, and their fiery force to push her through the air further and further north, spinning and laughing with every blast, finishing by crashing through the leaves of several trees and leaping off two more, finally tumbling to the ground.

"Nailed it!" she exclaimed as she ran off.

Pyrrha held her shield, Akouo, in front of her as she crashed through THREE FUCKING TREES, and rolled onto the branch of a fourth, immediately shifting her blade into a rifle and looked through the scope at Jaune, the poor guy helplessly tumbling through the air. Pyrrha coolly transformed Milo to its spear form, took a moment to evaluate her throw, and rocketed the javelin deep into the forest. Eventually, a satisfying "THUNK!" was heard.

"Thank you!" Jaune called in the distance.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha apologized, waving in his direction.

"Nice throw, Pyrrha!" Seraph yelled, rapidly passing by.

"Um, Thanks!" she called after him.

Seraph noticed he was getting dangerously close to the treetops, so he finally activated the first part of his semblance. With a burst of aura colored black with a white outline, a large black wing emerged from his left shoulder. He flapped this wing once, and immediately ascended.

Seraph's semblance was called 'One-Winged Angel'. He'd named it so due to the single black wing, obviously, and his first name, Seraph (or Seraphim), referring to an angelic figure in some religion or other. The second part of his semblance was his ability to augment his speed and precision at will to various levels at the cost of aura. He could potentially attack hundreds of times in the span of a few seconds.

Unfortunately, it seemed The Other Guy was loosely tied to his semblance somehow. If he went to one hundred percent of his power, he ran the risk of letting him take control. That had happened once already.

ONCE.

Thankfully, he had been far younger, and far weaker back then, and wasn't as much of a threat. Now, however, was a completely different story. Equally thankfully, he hadn't needed 100% in a long time, and that margin went up as he got better with his powers.

"WHOOOHOO!" Seraph screamed in delight, grinning all the while.

He LOVED flying. While airships were cool and all, flying under his own power was one of the greatest feelings in the world. Hell, it didn't even use up that much aura anymore, so he could do it more often. He could probably fly all the way to the temple, recover the relic, and fly to his end destination, bypassing all the Grim in the forest. Two problems with that plan, however.

1) He wouldn't get a partner that way, and 2) ...where was the fun in that?

Once he figured that he got enough distance, Seraph angled down, shooting towards a small clearing. As he came close, he righted himself, and gently floated to a landing, his wing then disappearing. As he was in no hurry, he started walking in what he believed was the direction of the relic temple. As he pressed on, he began contemplating teammates.

 _'Let's see then. There's Ruby, she has to be really effing skilled to be at Beacon two years early, not to mention using a scythe! She seems really fun too. Then there's Yang, tough, reliable, awesome big sister. She seems a little headstrong though.'_ Seraph rolled his eyes. _'Like I'm one to talk. There's Blake, she's a book lover and Whovian, like me. We'd likely get along great. She doesn't seem like a conversationalist, though. But I could work with that. Weiss...she's seriously got to work on her attitude. She does that, and I could work with her too. There's also Jaune, he's a great guy, but he seems more than a little hapless. But if we become teammates, I'm confident that I can get him into proper fighting form. And then there's Pyrrha Frickin Nikos! Me and her fighting side by side, we'd be nigh unstoppable. Plus, I'd get to know her beyond the celebrity stuff.'_ Seraph then chuckled, remembering the duo from breakfast this morning. _'There's no way I'm teaming up with Ren or Nora, though. Their teamup was decided the moment they ARRIVED. Hah! "We're not 'together-together'" my ass! If that's true, then they're as close to it as they can get.'_

As Seraph finished his thoughts, he heard it. A low growling sound. He stopped and tensed up, noticing he'd reached another small clearing. Soon, the bushes around him parted to reveal a pack of Beowolves slowly closing in.

Seraph smiled. "Well?" he asked. "I don't have all day, let's go!"

As if they understood, one of the Beowolves charged forward for the opening attack. It drew back a claw and swiped at Seraph, only to hit air.

Seraph was behind it, Kitsuki drawn and pointed at its head. "Bang." With a single trigger pull, the Beowolf's head was blown open.

At that, the rest of the pack moved to box him in. Seraph aimed Kitsuki out and began to slowly spin clockwise, firing as he went. One Beowolf after another fell to his shots. When one behind him got to close, he lashed out with a roundhouse kick to its chest, then shot it in the head. He slashed with the blade at another, cutting it down. As four more Beowolves closed in with claws ready to slash him to ribbons, he converted Kitsuki to katana form, gripped it with two hands, and vanished, reappearing on the other side of the Grimm. The 4 offending Beowolves were bisected. He stabbed Kitsuki into the chest of another, then slashed through it to the side, cutting through the Grimm next to it.

Seraph then proceeded to deal with the last of the pack, moving at breakneck speeds to each Beowolf, attacking each one several times before they could get a hit in. As one last injured Beowolf tried to crawl away, Seraph stabbed it in the head. It began to dissolve like all the rest.

"Ahhhh." Seraph groaned, stretching. "Gotta love a morning workout."

As he moved to put Kitsuki away, he heard more noise. He looked to the side, and noticed several other kinds of Grimm approaching. Seems like he'd drawn a crowd with all the commotion.

Seraph grinned. "Alright then." he said, bringing Kitsuki up and at the ready. "BRING IT!"

* * *

"That Ursa wasn't so tough, y'know. Like I said, I could have taken him."

"Still, its attention was focused on you. I had an opening, so I took it."

Blake and Yang were walking along a rough path after having met up a little while earlier, a couple of Ursa having tried to make some trouble. They were on their way to search for the forest temple as well. However, they stopped once they heard some noise nearby.

"Blake, you hear that?" Yang said, readying Ember Celica. She was looking around, trying to find the source. Blake also looked around, her hand gripping the hilt of Gambol Shroud.

"Yes. It sounds like someone else is fighting close by..." Blake trailed off, drawing her sword.

Suddenly, out of the brush to the side of the pair, a figure flew backwards out at the two women, as if ejected. Blake rolled out of the way, but Yang caught the flying person directly, and the two rolled to a stop on the ground, Yang lying on top of him.

As Yang shook her head, she looked down to find that Seraph Argyros had been the one to come out of nowhere.

"Hey there, handsome." Yang said teasingly.

"Hello there." Seraph greeted. "Come here often?"

"Oh, you know, whenever I get bored."

"Neat. Mind getting off of me, Yang?"

"Ohh? Am I making you uncomfortable?" Yang flirted, pressing her ample chest down on his.

Seraph blushed a bit, but raised an eyebrow. "Frustrated, actually. This is neither the time nor place."

Yang got up off the poor guy, and gave him a hand up. "And if it WERE the time and place?"

"I dunno." Seraph said, grinning. "It MIGHT just be a different story."

"Are you two done?" Blake asked, slightly annoyed.

"I believe so." Seraph said. "Well then, looks like you tw-" He was interrupted by the roars of the Grimm still lurking nearby. Seraph shot a look to the brush he'd come from.

"Ladies, please excuse me." Seraph announced. "Unfinished business and all." He then grabbed Kitsuki and leapt back into the brush.

As Yang and Blake looked on, they heard the sounds of battle again. Gunfire, Grimm grunting, blade slashing. Eventually, a Beowolf was sent flying out of the brush next. Followed by another. Then another. Then a pair of Boarbatusk. Then a frickin URSA. At last, the fighting stopped.

Seraph emerged again, Kitsuki holstered, dusting off his hands. "Now, where was I? Oh yeah. Looks like you two are partners now. Unless you've been walking all this way without making eye contact?"

"Nope." Yang affirmed. "We're partnered up now. No such luck for you."

Seraph snapped his fingers. "Damn. Haven't found anyone myself, yet. Mind if I stick with you guys? Someone's bound to show up at the temple ruins."

"Sure, let's get going." Blake said, leading the way. Yang and Seraph fell into step beside her.

"Hey, Seraph." Yang began. "I just wanna say thanks again. For helping Ruby."

"Anytime." Seraph replied. "Like I said, Lily was the same way for the longest time-"

"That's not it. I was talking about you and Jaune, making her feel welcome." She smiled tenderly.

Seraph smiled back, nodding. "Like I said, anytime."

* * *

Meanwhile, Professor Ozpin and Ms. Goodwitch were still at the top of Beacon Cliff, monitoring the teens' progress.

"The last pairs have been formed sir." Glynda reported. "All in exception for...exactly who you'd expect."

"Seraph, yes. I know."

Glynda gave the enigmatic Headmaster a look. "Professor Ozpin, what are you planning for that boy?" she asked

"Let's just say I've came up with something...creative, Glynda. I have a feeling that, despite his...unique issues, Mr. Argyros is going to go far."

* * *

Eventually, the trio stepped out into a much larger clearing that held a circular stone temple, broken and decrepit but for the platforms around its inside, holding several black and gold objects.

"Think this is it?" Yang asked.

Blake gave Yang an incredulous look.

"Nah, this is the OTHER stone temple in the Emerald Forest used for the Initiation Test." Seraph stated sarcastically, smirking. "We'd better double back, I think we missed the one we're looking for."

"Ha ha, very funny." Yang replied, following Blake down the hill towards the temple.

"I try." Seraph said, likewise following.

They walked across the floor and got a better look at the black and gold relics.

"Chess pieces. How very symbolic." Seraph commented.

"Some of them are missing." Yang said. "Looks like we weren't the first ones here."

"Well, I guess we should pick one" Blake suggested.

They all strode forward, observing the pieces that were left.

"How about a cute little pony?!" Yang asked, grabbing the white knight piece.

"Sure." Blake smiled.

Seraph was scanning all the pieces on the pillars, still wondering which one to pick, not to mention that there was still nobody around to be his partner. He was broken from his musings as he spotted something out the corner of his eye.

It was sitting in an indent in the wall, unless you had really keen eyesight, you'd probably miss it with all the other pieces so obviously in the open. It was a pawn piece, colored gunmetal grey, but made from the same material as the others. It didn't look like there were others like it around. Either this was the only unique piece of its kind...or someone else had grabbed its mate. By that logic, Seraph decided to take the pawn piece, pocketing it safely in his longcoat.

"That wasn't too hard." Yang stated.

"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find." Seraph replied

Suddenly, a loud girly shriek pierced the air.

"Some girl is in trouble!" Yang said, readying her weapons. "Did you hear that Blake?"

 _'I wonder if I should tell her that I'm pretty sure that was actually Jaune.'_ Seraph thought to himself. _'Nah, I'd rather not humiliate the poor guy more than he has himself.'_

"Blake? What should we do?" Yang asked, turning toward her partner, Seraph doing the same

She was completely focused on something in the sky, pointing to it.

"HEADS UUUUUUUUP!"

It was Ruby, falling towards them from the sky. How she got up there was anyone's guess.

Seraph was about to launch up and catch her, but was interrupted as Jaune flew in out of scenic nowhere, crashing into Ruby, and sending them careering into a tree. Ruby was shaking off the crash into the tree as she was sitting down on one of the high branches.

"Oohhh...What was that?" she said holding her head. She heard an "Eh-hem", and looked up to see Jaune hanging upside down from the tree branch above.

"Hey Ruby."

"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked Yang.

"I-" before she could say anything, the three heard rustling in the bushes. Out of them came an Ursa, clawing at the air. A bright pink explosion hit it from behind as someone screamed, "YEEEE-HAAAAW!"

The Ursa fell to the ground dead as Nora Valkyrie rolled off its back.

"Awwww, it's broken." she said dejectedly

Ren stumbled into view, clearly out of breath.

"Nora...please... Don't ever do that again." he pleaded.

As Ren looked up, he saw Nora was already gone, and looked around frantically. Seraph was even surprised that she'd slipped passed his view.

She was already at the temple behind them, curiously observing one of the White Rook pieces. She grabbed it and started to sing, "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" as she balanced the rook on her head.

"NORA!" Ren bellowed. She giggled a bit, dropping the piece into her hand

"Coming Ren!" she called, running off.

"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked, rather surprised.

"I-" before Yang could answer, she was interrupted yet again.

Pyrrha emerged from the treeline, running away from a thirty foot creature of Grimm in the form of a scorpion, called the Death Stalker.

"Jaune!" she yelled.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune replied.

"Whoa!" Ruby exclaimed, leaping from the tree, quite literally leaving Jaune high and dry.

"Ruby!" He yelled after her. Ruby rolled to a stop next to her sister.

"Ruby?!" Yang bleated. Ruby looked to her, and burst into a smile

"Yang!" She yelled, moving to hug her.

"NORA!" Nora yelled, popping up between them, to their shock.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha was still running from the scorpion.

"Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?" Blake asked. Before Seraph could snark about her grasp of the obvious, Yang literally exploded in a ball of fire.

"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! COULD EVERYONE JUST CHILL OUT FOR TWO SECONDS BEFORE SOMETHING _CRAZY_ HAPPENS AGAIN?!"

Seraph, who had leaned away from the exploding Yang, straightened back up, while Ren finally ran up to Nora, as she did a ditzy little dance, evidently incapable of standing still for any length of time. Yang panted as her flames died out, and Ruby tapped her on the arm.

"Um, Yang?" She pointed to the sky. Yang didn't even bother to look, she just slumped forwards in frustration.

Then they all looked up to see exactly how Ruby had gotten up in the air.

"HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME?!" Weiss screamed from above, hanging on for dear life to the talon of a fifty foot Giant Nevermore. NOW the question was how did the girls get on the bird in the first place?

"I said jump!" Ruby yelled back.

"She's gonna fall." Blake said.

"She'll be fine."

"She's falling." Ren announced.

"Don't worry, I got her." Seraph assured. As he prepared to do his flying thing, he was once again interrupted.

Jaune finally managed to free himself from the trees. He also saw Weiss falling. With an eager and happy grin, Jaune dove out of the trees and successfully caught her in his arms.

"Just...dropping in?" he asked, smiling at Weiss

Weiss was speechless... but for an entirely different reason, which Jaune realized as they both looked down.

"Oh, God." The two hugged each other tightly, and began to fall again, Jaune screaming all the way down.

A black blur raced by, snatching them out of the air, then depositing them next to the group. The two wondered how they got to the ground on their feet so fast, then looked to see Seraph right next to them, his wing disappearing.

"You're welcome for the painless landing, by the way" he stated. "No need to thank me. I actually mean that, though. You don't need to."

"Well what if we WANT to?" Jaune queried

"I don't." Weiss said.

"Big surprise." Seraph quipped.

Pyrrha was STILL being chased by the Death Stalker, but soon got knocked on her side towards the group.

"Great. The gang's all here! Now we can all die together!" Yang said

"Paragon of hope, you are." Seraph commented. Yang turned a dirty look to him, but didn't look like she meant it.

"Not if I can help it!" Ruby declared, charging towards the Death Stalker with a war cry.

"Ruby, wait!" Yang yelled after her.

She continued her charge and pulled the trigger on her scythe to give her a speed boost. However, the Grimm merely swiped with a claw, and knocked Ruby away.

"D-Do-Don't worry! Totally fine!" She said, picking herself up.

She tried shooting it in the skull, but this had no effect. She morphed her scythe back into compact form and holstered it, running away with the scorpion on HER tail now.

Yang and Seraph both launched forward to help, Ruby rushing to meet in the middle. The Nevermore had other plans, however, and flew behind Ruby, flapping its wings and releasing lines of sharpened feathers with points that caught on Ruby's cape, getting her stuck. As Yang approached, she was stopped by the hail of feathers. Seraph faired a little better, dodging and deflecting some, but stumbled back before a pair impaled him.

"Ruby! Get out of there!" Yang yelled.

"I'm trying!" she called back, struggling to free her cloak.

The Death Stalker stopped, raising its tail to impale the trapped girl.

"RUBY!" Yang screamed, reaching toward her in vain.

Seraph was having none of it, though. He would NOT let Ruby die, not here, not like this! He couldn't go to 100%, but he pushed himself as close as he would allow, and rushed forward. In the blink of an eye, Seraph was already beside Ruby, the stinger about to descend on them. He brought out his wing, and used it to shield them both, hoping it would be enough.

Nothing happened. Then...

"You are SO childish!" came Weiss' voice.

Seraph lowered his wing-shield, and both looked up to see a wall of ice trapping the Death Stalker's tail.

"Weiss?" Ruby said, puzzled.

"AND dim-witted, AND hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style." she continued. "And I suppose I can be a bit...difficult...but if we are going to do this, we are going to have to do this together. So, if you quit trying to show off, I'll be...nicer."

"That's honestly ALL we ask of you, Weiss." Seraph said, glad to see progress being made.

"I'm not trying to show off." Ruby replied. "I want you to know I can do this."

"You're fine." Weiss huffed.

She walked back to the group while Ruby breathed a sigh of relief, then closed her eyes and clasped her hands.

"Normal knees..." she whispered gratefully.

"What's that now?" Seraph asked, bewildered.

"N-nothing!" Ruby said, blushing a bit, before getting up. Seraph decided he was better off not knowing.

Ruby grunted as Yang rushed up and hugged her.

"So happy you're okay!" she said in relief. The moment was ended, though, when the Nevermore, still in the air gliding majestically, screeched loudly.

"Guys! That thing's circling back!" Jaune said urgently. "What are we gonna do?"

"Look, there's no sense in lollygagging. Our objective is right in front of us." Weiss stated, indicating the remaining chess pieces.

"She's right." Seraph agreed. "Remember what Ozpin said. Our mission is retrieving an artifact and returning to the cliffs."

"Right. There's no point in fighting these things." Ruby said.

Weiss was impressed at their decisions.

"Run and live... That's a idea I can get behind!" Jaune happily agreed.

"I'd prefer to call it a 'Tactical Retreat' myself." Seraph grinned.

The remaining warriors who needed them chose their respective pieces and pocketed them. The Death Stalker was starting to break out of the ice wall as the finished.

"Time we left!" Ren said.

"Right! Let's go!" Ruby said confidently, waving to the others. She ran ahead of all of them as they started towards some ruins up ahead that were comprised of dozens upon dozens of three hundred foot stone pillars. Yang still wasn't running. Blake stopped as well.

"What is it?" She asked her partner. Yang proudly stared at Ruby as she lead everyone to their (hopefully) victory.

"Nothing."

Blake smiled in realization, and the pair followed their friends.

* * *

The group of 9 soon reached the edge of the ruins, and took cover behind some of them. The Nevermore flew overhead, and landed atop the tower, screeching again as if saying, "What now, fuckers?!"

"Well, that's great!" Yang said in annoyance.

A crashing sound was the only warning as the Death Stalker, free once more, plowed through the trees, obviously very angry with the teens.

"EVEN BETTER." Seraph said sarcastically.

"Oh, man, RUN!" Jaune yelled. Several of them dashed out of cover, beating feet towards the bridge.

"Nora, distract it!" Ren ordered. As the Nevermore unleashed a hail of feathers, she pulled out her weapon, a massive grenade launcher named Magnhild, and began to fire at the massive bird, causing pink explosions bursting all around it. This made it fly off in another direction. Blake and Ren slashed at the scorpion before it attacked Nora, while Weiss took Nora and catapulted them both with a glyph next to Jaune, and hit the ground running, Blake and Ren likewise running for their lives.

"Go, GO!" Pyrrha yelled, dropping to one knee. She began firing a few rounds from Milo into the approaching beast, while Ren pulled out his Stormflowers and Seraph drew Kitsuki, both emptying their magazines, to no visible effect.

As the teens fled across the bridge, the Nevermore was flying back towards them. None of them noticed until it was upon them, and Seraph pushed Nora and Jaune ahead of him as it crashed though the bridge, separating the group into two. Jaune looked around, but didn't see Seraph anywhere.

"OOOHHHHHH SHIIIIIIIIIIT!" he heard ring through the air, looking where the Nevermore went, seeing Seraph holding on to its tail for dear life

Pyrrha, Ren and Blake continued to attack the Death Stalker on their other side. Jaune looked on, worried.

"Man, we gotta get over there. They need help!" He said.

Nora came to Jaune's side, "Let's do this!" she stated.

"Yeah...but uh... I can't make that jump!"

There was a large gap between them and the other side of the bridge. Nora giggled and grinned diabolically, knocking Jaune back with Magnhild, and changing her weapon into its alt form, a large War Hammer. She leapt into the air and was about ready to strike their end of the bridge to send them over.

"No, wait!"

Nora had slammed her hammer into the bridge and sent Jaune flying to the other side, screaming. Nora jumped on her hammers head and pulled the trigger, causing an explosion that propelled her to the other side.

"Nora Smash!" She yelled before slamming her hammer into the Grimm's head.

It tried to sting Nora with its tail, only for Nora used another explosion to move out of the way. It send her flying back, causing her to collide with Blake, sending her off the bridge. She spotted the Nevermore above her, Seraph still gripping its tail, and launched her whip so that Gambol Shroud's blade sank into the edge of the bridge, and started circling around, intending to leap onto the avian Grimm's back.

Meanwhile, Seraph had continued to hold on to the Nevermore's tail-feathers as if his life depended on it. Until he remembered, just now, that it didn't.

 _'YOU CAN FLY, YOU FUCKING DIPSHIT!'_ Seraph screamed at himself in his head.

With that, he let go, brought out his wing, and soared up, circling to the Nevermore's back. At the same time, Blake came around, looking for the same landing zone.

The duo landed on the bird's back, and both dashed across its body, slashing the entire time, before they jumped off and landed on the ruins next to Ruby, Yang and Weiss.

"It's tougher than it looks!" Blake said, Seraph nodding in agreement.

"Then let's hit it with everything we've got!" Yang said, readying her shot-gauntlets.

Everyone prepared their respective weapons, Seraph reloading, then turning Kitsuki's dial to the 'AP Rounds' setting. The Nevermore grew ever closer.

"DUST THIS BITCH!" Seraph yelled. The girls complied, joining him in firing a barrage of projectiles at the flying beast, which either missed, or the Nevermore ignored. Which was impressive, as Seraph was sure his AP Rounds were sinking into it. It crashed through the ruined tower they were on, and the 5 traversed the crumbling pieces to reach the higher bridge, underneath the cliffs.

"None of this is working!" Weiss said.

"I'm completely open to suggestions right now." Seraph offered.

Ruby watched as Blake swung away with her whip, and Yang launched round after fiery round at their ongoing headache. A light-bulb went off in her head.

"Ive got a plan! Cover me!" she stated.

* * *

Elsewhere, the Death Stalker is still busy attempting to kill Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha.

"We gotta move!" Jaune ordered. All four rushed forward.

The Death Stalker swiped a claw at Pyrrha, but she deflected it with Akouo and slashed at it with Xiphos-Milo. The scorpion recoiled and attacked with its other claw, but Jaune deflected THAT with his own shield, knocking it back, while Pyrrha leapt over and attacked its face. Ren ran up the stinger when it tried to hit him, and stated shooting at the base between it and the tail. Nora fired more grenades at the claws. Pyrrha hurled her javelin straight into one of the monster's eyes, which made it throw Ren aside in anger.

"Ren!" Nora called out in worry.

Ren slammed into a stone wall, and fell to the ground, barely moving. Jaune then noticed the Death Stalker's stinger was now hanging limply due to Ren's efforts.

"Pyrrha!"he called to the redhead

"Done!" she responded, reading his mind. She hurled Akouo like a discus, and it cut through, removing the stinger and causing it to impale the Death Stalker's head. Pyrrha's shield then rebounded back to her.

"Nora, nail it!" Jaune called to the energetic girl.

"Heads up!" she said to Pyrrha, jumping onto Akouo. Pyrrha leapt into the air as Nora fired Magnhild in order to achieve maximum lift. As she reached the zenith of her launch, she giggled a little, then fell back, twirling down until her hammer slammed the stinger deeper in, killing the Death Stalker once and for all, while also destabilizing the remainder of the bridge.

Jaune and Pyrrha bounded over the monster to solid ground, and Nora launched herself up as the monster fell with the bridge. Jaune hit the ground on his back, Nora on her bottom, and Pyrrha managed a proper landing. Ren simply walked over to them, and collapsed in exhaustion.

* * *

Yang was firing unending shots from her Ember Celica at the flying creature. It swept around and tried to eat Yang, but she jumped in its beak, holding the Nevermore's mouth open with an arm.

"I! HOPE! YOU'RE! HUN! GRY!" she raged, blasting shots into its mouth with the other arm.

She then jumped off and landed on the ground near the others as the Nevermore, unable to alter course, crashed into the cliff. It didn't stay down long though. Weiss rushed forward, and trapped its tail in ice, preventing it from moving, while Blake stood atop a pillar. Yang got up on the other pillar as Blake shot her weapon over to her. She caught it, and they stretched it out between them forming a band. Ruby and Seraph jumped onto their makeshift slingshot, stretching it backwards, and Weiss used one of her glyphs to hold it in place. Ruby had Crescent Rose ready, and Seraph, strangely, had Kitsuki stowed away, his right fist cocked back.

"Of course YOU would come up with this idea." Weiss commented.

"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked.

"Hmm! Can I!" Weiss said confidently.

Ruby looked concerned, but Seraph looked amused, as they both asked the same thing for different reasons.

"Can you-?"

"Of course I can!"

Weiss' glyph turned from black to red and released Ruby and Seraph at high speed. Seraph used his semblance to accelerate slightly faster than Ruby, then activated the third part to One Winged Angel.

His final ability was that he could channel his aura through his limbs to unleash an absolutely devastating attack on whatever he hit upon impact. However, it would massively drain him, so he only really used it as a last resort. The current situation counted.

His right arm was wreathed in flames made of his black-with-white-outline aura. He let loose a war cry as he slammed his fist into the Nevermore's chest. A loud *BOOM* issued from the impact zone, as the Nevermore rammed back into the cliffs, which cracked a bit from the strain, its chest partially caved in. Seraph managed to land back with everyone else, and stumbled back against a pillar.

Then Ruby's scythe caught the beast by the neck. Weiss created a series of white glyphs up the wall, which Ruby used to climb up, dragging the Nevermore with her, firing to gain more momentum.

Monster and warrior simultaneously cried out, as Ruby reached the top, firing one last time, finally decapitating the giant bird in a shower of rose petals.

Ruby landed beside the severed head as the Nevermore's lifeless body crashed to the ruins below while everyone else looked on. "Whoa." Jaune said in awe.

"Well." Yang said, breaking the silence. "That was a thing."

"It sure was, Yang." Seraph agreed. "It sure was..."

Then he started laughing. "We did it. We freaking did it!" He leaned back.

"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHAHAHA!" he belted out.

"We kicked its ass! We're the best! WE'RE THE FUCKING BEST!"

"Seraph." Blake tried to get his attention.

"Try to fail our Initiation Test now, Ozpin! Hooyah!"

"Seraph!" Yang said, giggling at his increasing over-the-topness.

"What's that, Nevermore?! I can't hear you over the sound of HOW DEAD YOU ARE!"

"SERAPH!" Weiss yelled, having enough.

"Hello, yes?" Seraph said in a normal volume.

"You done?"

"...I think so, yeah. Well done, all round. Now let's get the hell out of here, shall we?"

* * *

Later, in the auditorium, Professor Ozpin was announcing the last of the official team formations.

"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark." Ozpin listed, as the big screen displayed the aforementioned's profiles, the 4 boys lined up on stage. "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL (Cardinal), led by... Cardin Winchester!"

The audience gave another round of applause as the new team walked offstage.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. " The four in question took the stage. "The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR (Juniper)."

As the crowd applauded, Nora laughed and gave Ren a hug.

"Led by... Jaune Arc!"

"Huh? L-Led by...?" Jaune sputtered, perplexed.

"Congratulations, young man."

Pyrrha smiled, giving Jaune a friendly bump on the shoulder. However, her 'fine leader' got knocked over by it, to the audience's amusement. He got up and the new team took their leave.

"And finally: Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long." Ozpin smirked slightly. "And Seraph Argyros."

The four girls who took the stage turned back to their comrade in surprise.

"What?" Seraph wondered, just as perplexed as Jaune had been.

"Join us, young man."

Seraph obeyed, taking the stage, but still wondering what was really going on.

"You four girls retrieved the white knight pieces." Ozpin turned to Seraph. "You, Mr. Argyros, retrieved the grey pawn piece. In chess, the pawn, once reaching the opposite side of the board, can be promoted to queen, rook, bishop, or knight. This make it one of, if not the most, versatile pieces in the game. I believe you fit the bill nicely. And not everyone would have found this 'wild card' where it was placed."

 _'I fucking KNEW he had something planned for me. He's a closet evil mastermind, I swear.'_

"There were an odd number of students this year, Mr. Argyros. You turned out to be the odd man out. Now, as Headmaster, I believe I can bend the usual 'four-man team' rule for this instance. I placed you with these four, as I believed you forged rather strong bonds with them, both in the field, and out." He held up a tablet to Seraph. "However, if you so choose, you can switch to any of these teams here."

Seraph looked at the tablet. On it, he saw among the listed were Team JNPR, Team BLAC (Black), and Team XSRA (Sahara).

He looked back at the 4 girls. They all looked back at him expectantly. Seraph turned to Ozpin, and shoved the tablet back at him.

"Absolutely not." Seraph stated firmly, grinning. "I wouldn't trade in these four even if you offered me a second-year team!"

The girls all beamed at Seraph, even Weiss.

"Very well." Ozpin said, smiling warmly. "From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBYS (Rubies). Led by... Ruby Rose!"

Weiss looked to her new leader in surprise, who happened to be in equal amounts of shock.

"I'm so proud of you!" Yang said happily, hugging her sister.

"It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year." Ozpin commented.

* * *

Later that night, amidst the city of Vale, in a shadowy room filled with shelves, Roman Torchwick was recieving a phone call.

As the coversation ended, he angrily slammed the phone down, letting out a sigh.

A man in a white mask came into the room with a large crate. Torchwick fished out lien from his pocket and placed it on the desk, and the man took it.

"Open it." Roman ordered.

The man used a crowbar, prying open the crate to reveal a multitude of Dust crystals. Roman picked one up, observing it closely.

"We're going to need more men." he concluded.

 **...**

 **And that, lads and lasses, concludes chapter two. Now, you know the Darksaber from Star Wars: The Clone Wars? (if not, google it) That's what I'm going for with Seraph's aura color. Thanks to JcL107 and hegerslenny for following. Am I gonna shout out my reviewers, favorite-ers, and followers every chapter? As long as there's new ones, you bet I am!** **Hope to see you guys soon. Leave some reviews, please and thanks!  
**

 **Oh yeah, and You lost The Game.**

 **LLaP**


	3. Jaunedice

**Before we get started, I wanted to say something. I hope that none of you are turned away at certain aspects of the story. The fact that it's a little too close to just the original, or that Seraph isn't having that big an impact on the story. You're right, he isn't.**

 **YET.**

 **This is what I envisioned for Seraph's interactions in the RWBYverse thus far. Some things stay the same, at the START. Rest assured, things are going to, hopefully, improve as we go. Now, my fellow author Espada 4 Jurabi has said that writing up a sorta-kinda prologue chapter, a 'Trailer' if you will, and reshuffling chapters to put it first could improve things. My buddy Andy2396 says it's been done a bunch of times before, and advised that I shouldn't bother. Those who pay attention to this story, I'd like your opinion on this matter voiced in the reviews before I make my final decision.**

 **That being said, let's get on with chapter 3! Allons y!  
**

 **...**

The past several weeks at Beacon had been interesting to say the least.

The first day was certainly memorable. Team RWBYS had woken up to rearrange and personalize their dorm room. Seraph's additions were few, including a small stack of books from home to read at leisure, and his most treasured poster.

It was, naturally, a Doctor Who poster. The special thing about it, was that it was SIGNED. It was a poster of portraits for each of The Doctor's incarnations, 1 thru 8, The War Doctor, and 9 thru 12. Each had a personal signature from the actor who portrayed them underneath, excluding the 1st, 2nd and 3rd, who'd already passed away.

Seraph had been lucky to get this, no bones about it. His name had been drawn from a lot of so many other fans, and he got to meet each actor and shake their hand, poster being signed afterword. It was a humbling experience, really. And it was always nice to meet your heroes.

After the decorating, the team realized that their beds had been piled up, and there wasn't much room for them. The vote was made to turn the girls' beds into makeshift bunk beds, while Seraph's was off to the side.

They soon realized they'd spent too much time on this project, and were gonna be late for their first class. They, along with Team JNPR, rushed off.

Professor Port's first class had been...an event. Weiss had essentially volunteered to fight a captured Boarbatusk to showcase the 'traits of a proper huntsman/huntress'. Ruby had called out encouragement, then advice to Weiss, who snapped back to be quiet. After defeating the beast, Weiss confronted Ruby and told her in no uncertain terms that her appointment as leader had been a mistake.

Seraph had been MOST displeased. He'd been this close to confronting Weiss and verbally tearing into her for her actions, before going to console Ruby. He'd been beaten to the punch on both counts, at the same time no less, by Port and Ozpin respectfully. He overheard both conversations, as they had occurred near enough to each other, and he decided to wait, hoping that both girls would think seriously on the advice given.

His hopes were not unfounded, as he overheard Weiss returning before he did, mending bridges with Ruby. It was then he'd decided to mend some bridges of his own.

* * *

"That was a good thing you did there." Seraph said to Weiss as she shut the door.

"Seraph!" Weiss jumped, turning to him.

"I'm glad to see your progress wasn't all for naught after all."

"Well...thanks...I guess."

Seraph sighed. "Look, Weiss. I'm sorry if I've acted harshly towards you. Also for being a bit of an idiot. Not gonna lie, I kind of am one sometimes."

Weiss hesitated, then relented. "I...suppose I'm sorry too. I really shouldn't have drawn Myrtenaster on you when we first met, it was rather improper of me. Also, thinking back on it, I kinda WAS shaking the vial in Ruby's face..."

"Yeah, I guess you kinda were." Seraph held out his fist. "Teammates?"

Weiss smiled a bit, bumping her own fist with his. "Teammates."

* * *

After that, things mostly became routine at Beacon. Mostly.

Teams RWBYS and JNPR had sat down for lunch after having witnessed Cardin Winchester, the school's unofficial Head Asshole, wipe the floor with Jaune in combat class. Most of them were listening to Nora tell one of her ridiculous stories

"So! There we were, in the middle of the night..."

"It was day." Ren corrected

"We were surrounded by Ursi..."

"They were Beowolves." Ren amended

"Dozens of them!" Nora screamed as she stood up.

"Two of them." Ren rectified.

"But they were no match... and in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa-Skin rugs!"

Ren sighed, "She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now."

"I'm pretty sure Ursa Skin rugs are implausible anyway, since most Grimm disintegrate after we kill them." Seraph commented.

"Exactly." Ren said

Pyrrha looked at her team leader in concern, who was pushing his food about dejectedly. "Jaune? Are you okay?" she asked

"Huh?" Jaune said, snapping out of it. "Oh, yeah! Why?"

"It's just that you seem a little... not okay..." Ruby said .

"That's an understatement." Seraph added. He could tell Jaune was very 'not okay', and had several ideas why.

The others stopped what they were doing, looking towards Jaune.

"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously! Look!"

Jaune gave a half-hearted thumbs-up, laughing nervously.

Then, everyone's attention was focused on the nearby table where Team CRDL was, crowding around a Faunus girl with brown rabbit ears jutting from her brunette hair. Cardin laughed at her and Sky held his hands to his head in a mocking manner. Everyone stared in anger of Cardin's inhuman ways, Seraph clenching his fists.

"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school!" Pyrrha said.

"Who? Cardin Winchester? Nah..." Jaune deflected. "He just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes!"

"He's a bully." Ruby said.

"And there's no excuse for him." Seraph said in an angry tone. _  
_

"Oh, please! Name one time he's 'bullied' me."

"Well, there was the time he knocked your books out of your hands in the hall." Ren said.

"Then there's the time he got your shield stuck in a doorway." Blake added.

"And don't get me started on when he shoved you into a ROCKET LOCKER, and sent you flying." Seraph finished.

"Aw, come on, I didn't land far from the school!"

"Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask." Pyrrha assured

Nora got up on table with a not-entirely-sane grin.

"Ooooh! WE'LL BREAK HIS LEGS!" She said exitedly.

"Guys, really, it's fine! Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone."

They all looked over as the laughter got louder, mixed in with cries of pain from the rabbit Faunus, Cardin tugging on one of her ears.

"Ow! That hurts!" She cried "Please, stop..."

"I told you it was real!" Cardin said to his team, laughing.

"What a freak!" Russell said.

Everyone at the table jumped as they heard, and felt, someone slamming his fists into it. They looked to see Seraph getting up from his seat, murder in his emerald-green eyes.

"S-Seraph?" Weiss said, finding her voice. "What are you..?"

"Excuse me." Seraph growled. "Imma go break Cardin's legs. Won't be a minute."

One of the things Seraph despised most in the world were bullies. But he had REAL hatred for those who tormented the Faunus for being who they were. The instant he'd seen that Cardin had gotten physical in his abuse, that was it. Everyone else may be content to just sit there, but Seraph would be DAMNED if he would stand by and watch this bullshit anymore.

In a burst of his Semblance, he was at Cardin's side, and had grabbed his wrist.

"What the hell!?" Cardin bleated.

"Let her go, Cardin." Seraph said firmly, shadow over his eyes.

"What do you think yo-AGH!"

Cardin's sentence was interrupted as Seraph squeezed his wrist, HARD.

"I said. Let. GO."

Winchester quickly released the girl's rabbit ear, and she backed up a few paces. Seraph likewise relinquished his hold. Cardin, rubbing his wrist, stood up, mirrored by his team.

"Now," Seraph continued, arms clasped behind his back. "If you would apologize to the young lady, we can all go our separate ways."

Cardin glared angrily. "The only thing WE'RE gonna do now, is teach you a lesson!"

"Oh god, no. Please, anything but that. I'm begging you. Don't do it." Seraph deadpanned. "I'm being sarcastic, PLEASE give me a reason."

Cardin wound up his left fist, and swung. Seraph dodged, grabbing the offending arm, and used Cardin's own momentum to throw him to the floor. As Dove came to attack him next, Seraph sidestepped, grabbed Dove by the back of the head, and slammed it into the table, sending him to the floor. He jumped up into the air as Russel and Sky tried to simultaneously kick him, grabbing both of their heads as he flipped over them, and slammed them together. He landed as both boys crumpled to the ground.

Seraph dodged a right from Cardin, who had gotten back up, and delivered a left haymaker to the bully's face, followed by a right uppercut, and roundhouse kick to the gut. Seraph then zipped behind Cardin, knocking the boy to the ground with a kick in the back. He then got onto Cardin's back and put him in a hold commonly referred to as 'The Chickenwing'

"Ahhhhhh, shit!" Cardin yelled in pain.

"Now, tell her you're sorry." Seraph said calmly.

"I'm sorry."

"A little louder, and please mean it."

"I'm really sorry!"

Seraph released the arm. "Thank you!" he said exasperatedly. "Now get out of my sight."

Cardin got up, holding his arm, and backed up to the rest of his team, then they all turned and left. There was a smattering of applause from some of the other tables, which Seraph simply acknowledged with a nod.

He turned to the Faunus girl, still standing there rather shyly. "Sorry about that." Seraph said to her. "I'd rather they had just apologized and been done with it, but I guess they needed manners beaten into them. Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you."

"Are you sure?" Seraph said, concerned. "I'm aware that Faunus ears are really sensitive. There's no real damage done?"

"N-no, everything's good." she said.

"Good." Seraph said. He then gave the girl a once-over. She was honestly really beautiful, not to mention insanely cute. Not quite the same brand of cute seen from Ruby, mind. A notion then came to Seraph's head. It was stupid, but it was worth a shot.

"I'm Seraph Argyros, by the way." he said, winning smile on his face. "And who might you be?"

"V-Velvet." the girl stuttered. "Velvet Scarlatina."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you Velvet Scarlatina." Seraph held his hand out.

She took his hand and shook it, casting her eyes down shyly, a bush and smile on her face.

Seraph didn't show it, but he was very surprised. _'Wait, that worked?'_ He'd actually expected his 'subtle' flirt would be recognized, and get turned down. _'Huh. I guess the Captain Jack Harkness method has some merit after all.'_

"I suppose I'd better let you go, then." Seraph said. "See you around?"

"I hope so." Velvet responded, turning with a wave. "Goodbye, thanks again!"

"Later, Velvet!" he said, waving back. He then turned, and vaulted over the table, returning to his seat.

"Well done back there, Seraph!" Ruby said approvingly.

"Well, thank you. Just demonstrating how to deal with a bully that gets physical with you."

"Not only that." Yang said slyly. "We saw you putting the charm on for Ms. Velvet back there.

"What? No, I was just saying hello!" Seraph denied.

"Were you, though? Were you?"

"...okay, you're right. I honestly didn't expect it to work, though."

"It doesn't bother you that she's a Faunus?" Blake asked.

"No. Should it?"

"No, I was just curious. Most people wouldn't think the same way."

"Most people are total dumbshits." Seraph remarked. "Faunus are just as human as any of us, they just happen to have some extra features. All the discrimination against the Faunus? It's bullshit. We have enough issues with the Creatures of Grimm trying to kill us all, so why antagonize the only other race on Remnant who wants to help us fight them?"

Blake beamed at him, in fact, the whole table smiled at this show of open-mindedness.

"I think that's a wonderful way to look at things, Seraph." Pyrrha said.

* * *

The next class they had was History, one of Seraph's favorite subjects. It was vitally important in his eyes, after all, it was like the old adage said,

'Who are you, that does not know your history?'

The class was taught by Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck, a fast-moving, quick-talking professor who reminded Seraph heavily of the video game character Professor Mordin Solus from Mass Effect. On coffee.

Oobleck was in the middle of his hyperactive lecture, discussing topics on the Faunus.

"This is prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the The Faunus War! Humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie. Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!"

He continued to zoom around the classroom as he spoke, occasionally sipping at his coffee.

"Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?"

Some of the students raised their hands. Velvet, who had taken a seat beside Seraph, hesitated. Then he put his hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring nod. She smiled a bit, then raised her hand immediately.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" He took another sip of his coffee "I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to the White Fang! Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the War?"

A hand was raised.

"Yes?"

"The battle at Fort Castle!" Weiss answered easily.

"Precisely! And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"

Unseen by the professor, Cardin flicked a folded piece of paper at Jaune, who was nodding off. It hit him in the head, waking him up.

"Hey!"

Professor Oobleck zoomed over into Jaune's face

"Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?"

"Uhhhh... The answer... The advantage... of the Faunus..."

He looked behind the eager professors back, focusing on Pyrrha, who tried to signal him the answer.

"...had over that guy's stuff..."

When he saw Pyrrha cup her hands around her eyes, he chose the obvious answer.

"Uhh... Binoculars!"

While Jaune was pleased with his answer, the class laughed at him, sans Pyrrha, Blake, Weiss, Seraph and Velvet. Oobleck gave a disappointed sigh as he took another sip of his coffee. There was a facepalm from Pyrrha while Seraph bypassed that and went straight for a facedesk. Cardin pounded his fist on his desk, chortling. Oobleck zoomed back behind his desk

"Very funny, Mr. Arc! Cardin! Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject!"

"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier." Cardin snarked

"Fuck you too, Winchester!" Seraph shouted.

"Mr. Argyros." Oobleck said warningly.

"Sorry, sir." Seraph said unapologetically.

"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?" Pyrrha stated

"What? You got a problem too?"

"No, I have the answer! It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark." Pyrrha said as Cardin growled at the correct response.

"General Lagune was inexperienced, and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep." Blake continued. "His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured."

She then turned to Cardin, "Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure."

"Buuuuuurn!" Seraph whispered to Velvet, who giggled in response.

Cardin got up from his seat, fist clenched.

"Mr. Winchester! Please take your seat."

Jaune laughed at his tormentor's embarrassment, only for Oobleck to get in his face. "You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings."

With that, he took yet another sip of his coffee.

"Oohhhh..." Jaune groaned.

"Now! Moving on!"

* * *

When the lesson ended, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, and Seraph came out of the classroom, only for Pyrrha to stop near the doorway.

"You go on ahead guys. I'll wait for Jaune." she said.

"Hold on, I'll wait up too." Seraph replied, taking the other side of the door.

As they waited, Seraph spoke up. "Poor Jaune. God love him, he's a great guy, but he isn't good at some of these things."

"Yes, I agree." Pyrrha responded

"Honestly, If he had a tutor or something, personally giving him a hand, he could really improve."

Pyrrha nodded.

The two looked thoughtful, then looked up at each other, a lightbulb going off.

Just then, Oobleck zoomed out of the classroom in a green and white blur, startling them both.

 _'One of these days, I'm gonna find out how he does that.'_ Seraph thought. _'I swear, the man could keep up with me and Ruby.'  
_

Jaune emerged first, Cardin right on his heels. The bastard pushed Jaune to the ground, evoking an "Ow!". Cardin just laughed.

Until he was kicked in the back and sent to the floor as well.

"Oops, sorry. My foot slipped." Seraph deadpanned, his foot still in the air.

Cardin growled before getting up and walking away.

 _'That's right, you'd better run, you little bitch.'  
_

Pyrrha and Seraph helped Jaune to his feet.

"You know, I really will break his legs." Pyrrha said seriously.

"I'll hold him down, you borrow Magnhild." Seraph replied.

Jaune sighed, then Seraph and Pyrrha looked at each other, remembering the inspiration that just struck.

"We have an idea! Here, come with us!" Pyrrha grabbed a confused Jaune by the arm and dragged him behind her as she turned down the corridor, Seraph right on their tail.

* * *

The trio arrived at a rooftop on one of the buildings, a clear view of the 'beacon' in the school's central tower.

"Guys, I know I'm going through a hard time right now, but I'm not that depressed." Jaune said, peering over the roof's edge. "I can always be a farmer or something..."

Suddenly, the realization hit both Seraph and Pyrrha, their eyes going wide with horror.

"N-n-no!" Pyrrha dashed to Jaune, pushing him away from the edge. "That's not why we brought you up here!"

"Good Lord, man! Why would you even think that!?"

"Sorry. I was kinda joking..." Jaune said

"Jaune, we know you're having a difficult time in class..." Seraph began.

"And that you're still not the strongest of fighters, so... we want to help you!" Pyrrha followed up.

"Wh-what?"

"We can train up here after class where no one can bother us!"

"You think I need help?" Jaune asked

"Well, that's not _quite_ what we meant." Seraph said

"But you just said it."

"Jaune, everybody needs a little push from time to time. It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us." Pyrrha said encouragingly. "You made it to Beacon! That speaks volumes of what you're capable of!"

Jaune lowered his head and turned away from them.

"You're wrong. I-I don't belong here."

"That's a terrible thing to say! Of course you do!"

Jaune turned around, now visibly angry.

"No, I don't!" he shouted

He sighed as Pyrrha and Seraph shared a bewildered look.

"I wasn't really accepted into Beacon..."

He turned his back to them so he doesn't have to face his two friends.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"I mean I didn't go to combat school, I didn't pass any tests. I didn't earn my spot at this Academy!"

"...well, you obviously got here somehow." Seraph said.

He gave his friends a serious and sad look.

"I lied! I got my hands on some fake transcripts, and I lied!"

 _'I see.'_ Seraph thought. _'So THAT'S why he lacks the usual skill you see from a Beacon Student. Damn.'_

"What? But... why?" Pyrrha asked.

"'Cause this is always what I've wanted to be! My father, my grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors! They were all heroes! I wanted to be one, too. I was just never good enough."

Seraph approached Jaune, placing a friendly hand on his shoulder.

"Then let us help you." he said. "Together, we-"

Jaune suddenly turned on Seraph.

"I don't want help!" he said in frustration. "I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!"

"Jaune, I-" Pyrrha began.

"I'm tired of being the lovable idiot, stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives! Don't you understand? If I can't do this on my own... then what good am I?"

Pyrrha attempted to reach for his arm and console him, but he leaned away from her touch.

"Just... leave me alone. Okay?"

Pyrrha bowed her head. "If that's what you think is best..." she said sadly

She walked away, her footsteps getting softer and softer until she left the roof, leaving only Jaune and Seraph.

"You know, Jaune." Seraph started, a dark look on his face. "I may be a pretty awesome warrior right now, but if you think I got here on my own, you're dead wrong." He turned and began to leave. "If I truly needed help, I would NEVER turn my friends away." Seraph began walking away. "Just something to think about."

After Seraph left, Jaune paced a little, actually starting to think on those words. Until he heard a mocking laugh, and Cardin clambered onto the roof from his window.

"Oh, Jaune..."

"Cardin!" Jaune yelped.

"I couldn't help but overhear you guys from my dorm room. So, you snuck into Beacon, huh? I gotta say, Jaune, I never expected you to be such a rebel!"

"Please, Cardin, please, don't tell anyone!" Jaune begged

"Jaune, come on! I'd never rat on a friend like that!"

"A... a friend?" Jaune said cautiously.

"Of course!"

Cardin trapped Jaune in a headlock under his arm despite his struggling.

"We're friends now, Jauney boy! And the way I see it, as long as you're there for me when I need you, we'll be friends for a long time."

He finally released Jaune, the hapless blond gasping as he sat on the ground.

"That being said, I really don't have time to do those extra readings Dr. Oobleck gave us today. Think you could take care of that for me, buddy?"

He leaned down to rub Jaune's hair and got up with a grin.

"That's what I thought."

He headed back to his window, hanging onto the edge for a moment

"Don't worry, Jaune; your secret's safe with me."

Cardin dropped back down to his room, Jaune rubbing his neck, worried about the days to come.

* * *

Seraph Argyros was NOT a happy camper right now.

He was currently on the roof above where his team's dorm was located, Kitsuki out in katana mode, practicing his sword movements. He was quite upset that Jaune refused their help. He needed it, and he KNEW he needed it. Yet he still stubbornly refused. Seraph knew where Jaune was coming from, really he did.

He'd been there once before. Back when Rayleigh died. Back then, he was a helpless little kid who couldn't even keep his big brother from dying. After they lost him, and his resolve was strengthened, he'd devoted literally everything to training. He did not stop, and refused his parents or grandparents' help. He'd wanted to get strong on his own, to no longer be the helpless, scared kid that couldn't fight for shit. It wasn't working out as well.

Luckily, his family sat him down for a firm talking to one day, pouring their hearts out, and setting him straight. He took help whenever he needed it, never refusing. And look where he was now. He'd have never made it this far without them.

Even then, he still felt helpless these days. All thanks to The Other Guy.

All the bluster about 'hearing it all before' he'd spouted during the nightmare his first night here was just that, bluster. He was scared to death that The Other Guy would take control and follow up on all his dark promises. He knew it would be ten times worse than before.

He remembered the last time. He was a lot younger, his powers less refined. His parents together were able to subdue The Other Guy, and get him back in control. They had been totally frightened, having to fight their own son so seriously. But that wasn't the worst part.

The worst part, was seeing Lily afterword.

She's been so terrified by what happened. He been lucky that she didn't keep him from getting near her after. From how she described it, he wouldn't have blamed her. Hearing some strange adult's voice come out of her twin brother's mouth, the way his face took such awful expressions, and his eyes. His eyes had turned this totally WRONG shade of yellow that made them more terrifying than the red of the Grimm.

Now, if The Other Guy took over, he was far more powerful, more skilled. He'd be lucky if all it took was his parents, and both of their parents to subdue him.

He pushed such thoughts away, finished his practices, and stowed Kitsuki, leaping down and into the open window of the dorm. Seraph shut the window behind him, and pulled the curtains into place. He saw Ruby leaving the room, sounding like she was talking to Jaune. Which was weird, since he'd heard Jaune was hanging with Team CRDL lately, for whatever reason. He casually strode to the door to listen.

As he heard Ruby giving Jaune advice on being a leader, his brain suddenly focused on a snippet of info Jaune had let slip. That Cardin "had him on a leash". Seraph figured it was something like that. But what could Cardin possibly be holding over Jaune's head that wou-

WAIT.

Seraph did a bit of mapping in his head, and finally came to the awful conclusion. They'd been right over Team CRDL's dorm room that night. Cardin heard everything.

 _'Well...shit.'_

Jaune had to obey him now, or he was totally screwed. Seraph tried thinking up how to deal with this, what angles he could approach the problem at.

He came up with two. One was simple. Bully the bully. He could get Team CRDL all alone, then deliver the kind of beatdown he usually reserved for criminals. Then threaten that he'd do it again unless they stopped their bullshit, and forgot about Jaune's little secret. This option was a little full of holes, and was kind of hypocritical. But drastic times and all...

The other: Wait to see what Jaune will do. Problem with that was, there was no guarantee that he'd do anything.

Seraph sighed. He'd just have to have faith in Jaune. He walked toward his bed, tomorrow was a field trip day, and he needed his rest.

* * *

Forever Fall, the day's field trip destination, was appropriately named. It was a forest bustling with perpetually red leaves and gray trunks. Ms. Goodwitch was leading Teams RWBYS, JNPR, and CRDL through the area.

"The forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful." she stated. "But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so."

The group stopped, and Jaune, grunting and carrying a large case with seven empty glass jars on top, tried to catch up. He ended up bumping into Cardin, who scowled at Jaune. He tried to feign innocence by whistling tunelessly.

"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap." Goodwitch ordered, holding up a full jar as an example. "However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here by 4 o'clock. Have fun!"

While Yang and Ruby smiled at one another, Jaune attempted to sneak away from Cardin to his own team, but Cardin noticed and grabbed him by the back.

"Come on, buddy - let's go!"

Jaune miserably looked up at his team, where Nora and Ren were already walking into the forest's depths and Pyrrha and Seraph were staring sadly at the scene. Dropping his gaze, Jaune turned and followed CRDL, to his friends' disappointment. They then moved on as well.

* * *

Team CRDL were currently making themselves comfortable, leaning on stones, trees, and lying on the ground,while Jaune returned to the group with seven full jars, setting them down just as he collapsed into the dirt.

"Hey, great work, Jauney boy! Now that wasn't too hard, was it?" Cardin said

"I think I'm allergic to this stuff..." Jaune piped up, sounding a little stuffed up.

"Greeeeat, great, great. So, Jaune, I bet you're asking yourself, 'Why did my buddy Cardin ask me to collect seven jars of tree sap when there's only five of us?'"

"That is one of the many questions I have asked myself today, yes."

"Well, come with me, and you'll find out." Jaune moaned and gulped in worry.

* * *

Now perched on a hilltop overlooking the other students, team CRDL - plus Jaune, squeezed between Cardin and Russel, peaked their heads over the crest, watching as everyone was retrieving their samples of sap.

"Cardin, wh-what's going on?" Jaune asked.

"Payback."

"...Pyrrha? And Seraph?" Jaune realized

He watched Pyrrha gather more sap from a tree, then gave a struggling Seraph a hand.

"Wh-what are you-?"

Cardin pounded his fist on the ground.

"That's the girl. Red-haired know-it-all, thinks she's so smart. And that black-haired bastard, thinks he's such a tough guy. Alright, boys..."

He pulled out a buzzing cardboard box, a large "W" written on the side.

"Last night, old Jaune here managed to round up an entire box of Rapier Wasps, and now, we're gonna put him to work."

Russel grabbed Jaune by the shoulder, who barely laughed in nervousness.

"Now, according to one of the essays you wrote for me last week, these nasty things loooove sweets. I'm thinking it's time we teach those two a few things."

The members of CRDL got up. Cardin offered his hand to Jaune, only to painfully yank him up on his feet and shoved the two jars into his grasp.

"And you're gonna do it."

"Do what?"

"Hit them with the sap!"

He then leaned in close to Jaune's face.

"Either that, or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon."

Jaune looked down at the jars of sap in his hands and then up at the four grinning teammates waiting to see the results. Jaune turned towards the group and aimed his throw at an oblivious and smiling Pyrrha and Seraph, trying to steel his nerves and shaking hand to do the deed, but ultimately, the blonde steeled himself for what came next.

"No." Jaune said resolutely.

"What did you say?" Cardin asked.

Jaune gripped both jars tightly, "I said... NO!"

He turned and threw the jars at Cardin, instantly recoiling his hands to himself as he looks at Cardin's breastplate covered in sap. The other team leader, however, just looked at himself and laughed darkly.

"Oh, you've done it now..."

Jaune humorlessly laughed to himself once more with his hands still raised in an attempt for defense as Dove and Sky grabbed Jaune's shoulders and pull him away.

* * *

Meanwhile, Seraph's smile faded a bit as he turned to Pyrrha. "Hey, Pyrrha?"

"Yes?"

"About Jaune...I discovered something. He's not hanging with Cardin and the others by choice."

"I thought as much." she said with a sad look.

"Cardin overheard us that night; we were right over Team CRDL's dorm window. He's using the knowledge of Jaune's secret to control him."

"That's awful!" Pyrrha said, realizing the implications that Jaune had almost no choice, and that THEY had dragged him up there in the first place.

"Honestly, I'm debating whether to let Jaune do something on his own, or to step in and show those blackmailing bastards the business end of Kitsuki."

"Well, I-"

Whatever Pyrrha was about to say was interrupted by the nearby roar of a Creature of Grimm.

"Did you guys hear that?" Ruby asked, concerned.

Suddenly, the members of Team CRDL came running away from the direction of the roar through the other students.

"Ursa! Ursa!" Russell yelled as he ran into Yang.

"What?!" She said, completely unfazed by the collision, picking him up by the front of his shirt. "Where?"

"Back there! It's got Cardin!"

Pyrrha and Seraph both dropped their jars. "Jaune!" Pyrrha said in worry.

"Yang! You and Blake, go get Professor Goodwitch!" Ruby ordered, sliding right into Leader Mode.

Yang dropped Russel, and nodded with Blake before leaving to find the professor. Pyrrha turned to Ren and Nora as she and Ruby activated their weapons.

"You two, go with them! There could be more!"

Seraph drew Kitsuki, turning the dial to the 'Explosive Rounds' setting.

* * *

Cardin was attempting to run from the Ursa Major, but it leapt over its prey and clawed him back. He tries to get up and crawl away.

"Crap! Crap, crap!" Cardin said in panic.

Soon enough, Seraph, Pyrrha, Ruby, and Weiss finally arrived.

"Oh, no!" Ruby said.

They watched as the Ursa leaned over the helpless Cardin, raised its paw and swiped down... only to be blocked by Jaune's shield. He struggled to defend against its attempts to lean on him. Weiss and Ruby prepared to go help.

"Wait!" Pyrrha said

"Let's see how Jaune handles this first." Seraph followed, standing in a ready position. He was prepared, if necessary, to charge in and assist Jaune if he truly needed it.

Jaune took the shield out from under the Ursa's paw and slashed at its stomach, causing it to lash out and try to crush him. He rolled out of the way and jumped over its swipe at his feet, but was unprepared when it launched a claw at him in midair. He landed far away, yet was immediately back on his feet and charged again. The Ursa knocked Jaune behind it when he tried for a leaping attack.

Jaune looked at the scroll in his shield to find out that his Aura level was in the red. Against his better judgement, he ran at the Ursa as it also began to dash towards him. Just as they were about to clash, Pyrrha lifted her hand out to him as dark red energy glowed around her hand. The same glow then surrounded Jaune's shield, and made it lift up to block the swipe. Jaune used the surprise defensive move to lean on the ground, push his shield back up, and swing his blade right through the Ursa's neck with a war cry. The head and body both slammed onto the ground. The other three observers were surprised as Pyrrha's hand stopped glowing and she smiled.

"Uhhh... What?" Ruby said perplexed.

"How did you...?" Weiss asked

"Well, Ruby has her speed, you have your glyphs. My semblance is polarity."

"Magnetism." Seraph said in realization. "So that's how you always..."

Weiss then noticed Pyrrha starting to leave.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Yeah! We gotta tell them what happened!" Ruby said excitedly

"We could..." She said.

"Or we could keep it secret, and let Jaune have his moment." Seraph finished.

Pyrrha walked away again as Ruby and Weiss smiled to each other in understanding, and a bruised Jaune sheathed Crocea Mors before going over to Cardin. Cardin, still covered in sap, looked up at Jaune as his savior offered a hand. He smiled as he took it and was lifted back up on his feet.

"Holy crap, Jaune!" He said in amazement.

But Jaune wasn't smiling.

Don't ever mess with my team, my friends, ever again." he said threateningly, staring Cardin dead in the eye. "Got it?"

Cardin looked intimidated to say at most, possibly even apologetic. With his order spoken, Jaune turned and walked away from a frozen Cardin.

"Hey, Winchester!"

Cardin turned to see Seraph advancing on him. He backed up a bit, not sure what was gonna happen next. As Seraph stood in front of Cardin, he grabbed him by the shoulders, then sighed.

"Look, Cardin." he started. "I really don't know why you and the rest of your team insist on being such complete assholes. Honestly, I'm not sure if I care. I just think you should stop." The rest of Team CRDL had reappeared, on the edge of the small clearing. "You're all basically wasting you're time being schoolyard bullies, when you should be training to be heroes of Remnant!"

He shook Cardin once for emphasis.

"Listen to me, Cardin. Listen when I say this. None of your team are weak. Neither are you. If you devoted yourselves, you could be even better than you are now." He let go of the armored boy. "You know why I know this? Because even now, even after ALL THE SHIT you've pulled...I can find it in myself to believe in you guys." Seraph began to walk away. "Just something to think about."

* * *

Later that night, on top of the dorm building, a uniformed Jaune stood near the edge and looked into the distance at the green 'beacon' of Beacon.

"No Cardin tonight?" Pyrrha asked, walking up to his side. "I thought you two were best buds?"

"Pyrrha... I'm sorry." Jaune began to apologize. "I was a jerk! You were only trying to be nice, and... I had all this stupid macho stuff in my head-"

"Jaune! It's okay!" Pyrrha said, smiling at him. "Your team really misses their leader, you know."

She then got up and began to walk to the exit.

"You should come down! Ren made pancakes!" she singsonged. "No syrup, though - you can thank Nora for that!"

Jaune smiled but held out his hand and called out to her.

"Wait!" Pyrrha turned around, and Jaune looked sheepish.

"I know I don't deserve it after all that happened, but... would you still be willing to help me... to help me become a better fighter?"

Pyrrha turned around, keeping a worried Jaune from seeing her satisfied smile. She went up to Jaune and suddenly pushed her leader to the ground.

"Hey!"

Pyrrha stood over him with her arms on her hips and with an evaluating tone said, "Your stance is all wrong. You need to be wider and lower to the ground."

She offered him her hand, which he graciously accepted and they continue to hold on to and grin at each other.

"Let's try that again."

As the pair began to start training, Seraph was hiding nearby, smiling contentedly.

 _'I'd better not interrupt.'_ he thought. _'They don't really need me anyway. Unless they specifically ask, of course.'_

Seraph then took flight, returning to the Team RWBYS dorm window, entering, and shutting it behind. As he did, his mind brought up Jaune's false transcripts.

 _'It's odd that they weren't noticed in the first place.'_ he thought. _'MAYBE Goodwitch would miss it, but I really doubt that Ozpin-'_

It hit him then. The obvious explanation.

 _'Unless Ozpin DID know.'_ he realized. _'He knew, and decided to take a chance on Jaune.'_ He smiled. _'Well, if it's true, then I'm certainly glad he did.'_

"What's up, Seraph?" Ruby asked from her bunk. "Anything wrong?"

Seraph then threw himself onto his own bed, sighing.

"Nope." he responded. "Nothing at all."

 **...**

 **So ends another chapter of Vigil. Thanks to Espada 4 Jurabi for reviewing. Now, I'd like to take time to address a few issues of his here.**

 **Weiss' anger in chapter one**

 **She only really drew Myrtenaster with the intent to intimidate Seraph, she wasn't really gonna attack him. She also wasn't expecting him to respond the way he did. The reason Weiss didn't seem to react with the same level of anger to Blake as she did to Seraph was because she basically raged herself into a state of 'Oh fuck this', and decided to walk away rather than deal with these idiots any further.**

 **The nightmare**

 **How would you feel if a psychotic, homicidal consciousness in your head, who had been torturing you with similar threats to your family and other friends for YEARS, suddenly decided to target your new friends, friends you wanted to KEEP. I get that Weiss is not as much a friend at that point, but Seraph wouldn't wish any of the vividly detailed threats that The Other Guy has been making for years on her.**

 **Seraph singing**

 **I'm not sure why this is an issue. Singing isn't a super-special skill. ANYONE can do it, with the right amount of practice.**

 **Even then, I'm taking all you said into serious consideration, and will do my best moving forward. Anyway, please leave a review, and always remember.**

 **You lost The Game**

 **LLaP**


	4. Black and White

**Alrighty, then. I decided in the end to forgo reshuffling chapters and making a prologue chapter that would introduce Seraph more properly. Instead, I went ahead and gave you a BIG chapter this time. I broke 10,000 words! New record!**

 **Also, shoutout to MrKuhaku for Favoriting and Following! Thanks, dude.**

 **Anywho, I suppose we'd better get on with the show...er, story...you know what I mean. CHAPTER 4!**

 **...**

The streets of Vale were being decorated in time for the Vytal Festival. Red, yellow, and green streamers and balloons were proudly on display. A sign was being put up by an elderly shopkeeper that read "WELCOME TO VALE!" in bright red letters for all the foreign newcomers from Atlas, Vacuo, and Mistral. Team RWBYS was strolling through town, led by an excited Weiss, who then stopped and raised her arms in amazement.

"The Vytal Festival!" she exclaimed. "Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!"

"I don't think anyone's seen you smile this much, Weiss." Ruby said. "It's kinda weirding me out..."

"Speak for yourself, Ruby." Seraph replied, smiling himself. "I think Weiss should smile more often. She looks nice when she smiles."

"R-Really?" Weiss asked, surprised.

"Yeah, really."

Weiss blushed lightly at the compliment, but shook it away. "Anyway, how could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!"

Yang sighed and crossed her arms. "You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring."

"Quiet, you!"

"C'mon, Yang." Seraph chided. "Let Weiss have her moment."

The sound of foghorns heralded their arrival near the docks. "Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?" Yang asked.

Ruby covered her nose, "Ugh, they smell like fish!"

"Well it IS the ocean." Seraph said. "What were you expecting to smell, assorted cookies?"

His leader only gave him a half-hearted glare in response.

"I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today." Weiss explained. "And, as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom!"

Seraph smirked. "And by that, you mean you want to spy on them, and gain the edge in the Vytal Tournament."

"You can't prove that!"

"Gimmie some time, I betcha I can!"

"Woah." Ruby said in shock, looking to the right.

"What's up?" Seraph asked as he and the others followed their leader's gaze. She was looking towards a shop with a shattered window down the street, the door full of the yellow caution tape of the Vale Police Force.

"Oh. THAT woah." The team of five then approached the edge of the taped-off area, where two detectives stood, one taking notes on a pad.

"What happened here?" Ruby asked.

"Robbery." the detective replied. "Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle." He walked over to his partner.

"That's terrible." Yang sighed sadly.

"They left all the money again." Detective #2 said to his partner as he approached.

"Yeah, just doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that much Dust?" Detective #1 said, examining the crime scene.

 _'Secret Army.'_ thought Seraph

"I don't know, an army?"

 _'Aha, he agrees!'_

"You thinking the, er, White Fang?" Detective #2 removed his glasses,

"Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."

"Hmm! The White Fang." Weiss huffed, crossing her arms and pointing her nose in the air with her eyes closed "What an awful bunch of degenerates!"

"What's your problem?" Blake queried.

"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths." Blake said, now crossing her arms, "They're a collection of misguided Faunus."

"Misguided? They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!"

 _'Oh, THIS is gonna suck.'_ Seraph thought _  
_

"So then they're _very_ misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale!"

"That IS a good point, Blake." Seraph said, trying to shut down the topic. "I mean, the police never caught that Torchwick creep that Ruby ran into at From Dust Till Dawn a few months ago... It was probably him."

"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum." Weiss continued regardless. "Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal." Blake was starting to get visibly angry.

"That's not necessarily true..." Yang said.

"Yeah, well," Seraph started, now trying to change the subject. "Aside from that, I know for a fact that I don't have to worry about my grandparents' store getting robbed."

"Why's that?" Blake asked.

"You kidding me? Trying to rob Gotei Arms is practically suicide, what with 4 veteran Huntsman and Huntresses there."

"Yeah, but aren't they getting up there in age?" Weiss pondered.

"True, but that doesn't matter much. It's like Papa puts it. They're old, not obsolete."

"Hey, stop that Faunus!" came a voice from a nearby ship.

As the team overheard the outcry, they rushed over to investigate as a Faunus with a golden monkey tail was seen running down the length of the boat and leaping on to the edge as the two sailors are about to apprehend him. He was tan-skinned, with short spiky light blonde hair and evergreen eyes, wearing two red wrist bracers, an open loose-collared white jacket, and blue khakis.

"Thanks for the ride, guys!" he called to his pursuers, jumping onto the dock and running off.

"You no-good stowaway!"

The Faunus was using his tail to hang on a lamppost, currently peeling a banana

"Hey!" he called back. "A no-good stowaway would've been caught! I'm a great stowaway!"

 _'He's not wrong.'_ Seraph thought. The boy finished his banana, as a stone was thrown at him by one of the detectives from earlier.

"Hey! Get down from there this instant!" Detective #1 ordered. The Faunus dropped the banana peel on the detective's face, who growled in return.

The monkey-tailed Faunus twirled up to crouch on the lamppost, laughing mischievously, and proceeded to leap off and run away from the detectives. He made it to the stairs and soon ran past team RWBYS. He was looking in Blake's direction, and as he passed by, Seraph saw him wink at an astonished Blake and then continued to be chased down the road.

 _'I can't help but notice, but that guy totally ignored SEVERAL easier avenues of escape just now.'_

"Well, Weiss, you wanted to see the competition." Yang said. "And there it goes..." Weiss held up a finger.

"Quick! We have to observe him!" she said, taking off.

"Team RWBYS to Dispatch, we are in pursuit, over!" Seraph said in a strange false accent into an imaginary radio, before he and the others took off after her.

Eventually, the quintet rounded a corner, but then Weiss bumped into something and tripped. She looked up only to see the Faunus jump on to a building and disappear from her view.

"No, he got away!" Weiss despaired

"Uhh... Weiss?" Yang said, pointing at the cause of collision, a girl who was underneath her teammate. Weiss finally saw that she fell on the smiling girl, which startled the heiress and made her get up quickly. The girl had short, curly orange hair and bright green eyes. She wore a whitish-gray old-fashioned blouse with short gray feminine overalls.

"Sal-u-tations!" She said, still lying on the ground.

"Um... hello." Ruby replied

"Are you... okay?" Yang asked

"I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking." The girl still hadn't moved.

Team RWBYS shared a bewildered look, before Seraph spoke up.

"Umm...you gonna get back on your feet, or what?"

The girl thought about it for a moment. "Yes!" she said, leaping back on her feet in a kip-up. Everyone else took a step back at that.

"My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!" the girl greeted.

"Hi Penny. I'm Ruby."

"Name's Seraph."

"I'm Weiss."

"Blake."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang said. Blake then smacked her in the side.

"Oh, I'm Yang."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"You already said that." Weiss added.

Penny paused again. "So I did!"

"Well, sorry for running into you!" the Heiress apologized, as everyone turned around and started walking away. Ruby and Seraph waved their arms goodbye.

"Take care, friend!" Ruby said.

"See you around." Seraph added.

When they got far enough away from the startled Penny, Yang said, "She was... weird..."

"Believe you me, I have met weirder." Seraph insisted.

"Now, where did that Faunus riff-raff run off to?" Weiss wondered, looking off to her right. Making her nearly miss Penny reappearing in front of them.

"What did you call me?" She asked. Weiss and Seraph were both looking back and forth in shock.

 _'Wait...but how did...when did she...WHAT?'_ ran Seraph's thoughts.

"Oh, I'm really sorry." Yang apologized. "I definitely didn't think you heard me!"

"No, not you." Penny said, walking right through the group and leaning down to Ruby. "You!"

"Eh?" Seraph vocalized his confusion.

"I-I don't know. I, what I, um, uh..." Ruby was struggling with words at the moment.

"You called me 'friend'! Am I really your friend?"

"Uuuum..." Ruby looked over Penny's shoulder to her teammates, while Weiss, Yang, and Blake motioned to deny her. Seraph simply shrugged.

"Y-Yeah, sure!" Ruby said nervously. "Why not?"

Her teammates were horror struck for a moment, sans Seraph who simply sighed, but Penny looked overjoyed and laughed

"Sen-sational!" she said excitedly. "We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"

"Is this what it was like when you met me?" Ruby groaned at Weiss.

"No - she seems far more coordinated." Weiss replied.

"Though that WAS something Weiss said once." Seraph added. "Minus the sarcasm, anyway."

"So... what are you doing in Vale?" Yang asked.

"I'm here to fight in the tournament."

"Wait, _you're_ fighting in the tournament?" Weiss queried.

"I'm combat ready!" Penny said, with a salute.

"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part."

"Says the girl wearing a dress?" Blake pointed out.

"It's a combat skirt!" Weiss insisted.

Ruby, the skirt sister, sped over to Weiss' side. "Yeah!" Weiss then held out her hand and Ruby low-fived it.

"Wait a minute." Weiss realized. "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed...rapscallion?"

"The who...?" Penny asked.

Weiss held up a poor drawing of the criminal-in-question. "The filthy Faunus from the boat!"

 _'Oh shit, here we go again.'_

"Why do you keep saying that?!" Blake asked angrily. Weiss turned her attention from Penny to Blake.

"Huh?" Blake stalked over to Weiss.

"Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!"

"Oh, I'm sorry." Weiss said, releasing Penny and motioning to objects around her.

"Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?"

"WOAH, Weiss!" Seraph bleated. "Uncalled for."

"What? He clearly broke the law. Give him time; he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang!"

"UGH! You ignorant little brat!" Blake hollered. Weiss looked to be offended, but when Blake walked away, she followed

"How dare you talk to me like that! I am your teammate!"

"You are a judgmental little girl."

"Aaaaand they're off!" Seraph muttered. _  
_

"What in the world makes you say that?"

"The mere fact that you would sort that Faunus boy with a terrorist group solely based on his species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be!"

Yang slid up to Ruby and Seraph. "Um, I think we should probably go..." She said with an uncomfortable look.

Penny, popped up behind them, smiling. "Where are we going?" she asked.

* * *

Later, at the RWBYS Dorm...

"So you admit it! The White Fang is just a radical group of terrorists!"

"That's not what I meant, and you know it!"

"Oh for fucks sake!" Seraph interrupted. "Can we stop?! Please?!"

Unfortunately, he was completely ignored, and the heated argument continued.

"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!" Weiss said frustratedly.

"That is the problem!" Blake continued.

Weiss stood up from her bed. "You realize you are defending an organization that hates humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!"

Blake got on her feet as well. "There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"

"People like me?"

"You're discriminatory!"

"I'M A VICTIM!"

Seraph had been just about to fully intervene on this outrage when Weiss said that. Seraph stopped himself, and began pondering what exactly she could've meant by that.

"You want to know why I despise the White Fang?" Weiss said quietly, leering. "Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus?"

That's when it hit Seraph like a flying Magnhild. "They've been at war with the Schnees for years." he realized. "Oh SHIT."

"Exactly." Weiss confirmed, leaning against the bookshelf. "War, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members executed. An entire train car full of Dust, stolen. And every day, my father would come home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood."

 _'I...I had no idea...'_ Seraph thought sadly.

Ruby went to Weiss, offering comfort. "Weiss, I-"

"No!" She turned away from Ruby and walked back over to Blake.

"You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" Blake yelled.

Silence reigned over the room. A surprised Weiss backed away slowly, and Blake realized her mistake as she looked around at her teammates.

"Wait a minute...what?" Seraph said confused. "You..."

"I... I..." Blake then dashed out the door with her semblance, not looking back.

"No! Blake, wait!" Seraph shouted.

"Come back!" Ruby called. They both ran over to the door and called to her down the hallway as Yang sat herself down and Weiss looked down to the floor.

* * *

 _'Fucking dumbshit. FUCKING DUMBSHIT! You should have forced that argument to end sooner, you absolute dolt!'_

Seraph strode through the streets of Vale, keeping and eye out for Blake. While also berating himself for his inaction.

As he walked, he bumped into the rest of his team, minus one.

"Did you find her?" Ruby asked.

"No dice."

"She's been gone all weekend..."

"Blake's a big girl, I'm sure she can handle herself!" Weiss spoke

"Weiss, come on, she's one of our teammates." Yang

"Is she? We all heard what she said!"

"Weiss..."

"Who gives a shit." Seraph said irritably. "It doesn't matter. Right now, she's missing, and we need to find her!"

"A member of the White Fang! Right underneath our noses!

"I just hope she's okay..." Ruby said solemnly.

Seraph sighed. "Me too, Ruby. Me too."

* * *

"BLAAAAAAAKE! WHERE ARE YOOOUU?!"

Ruby was screaming her lungs out, desperate to find their missing teammate

"BLAAAAAKE!" Yang called

"DAMMIT, BLAKE! WE WANT TO TALK TO YOU, COME ON!" Seraph yelled

"Guys, people are starting to stare. Just send her a message through your Scrolls." Weiss scolded, hanging back from the group.

"You think I haven't tried?" Seraph retorted, holding up his scroll, several unanswered messages visible.

"Weiss, you're not helping!" Ruby whined. Weiss just gave her an annoyed look.

"Well, you know who might be able to help? The police!" She spat.

"And tell them what?" Seraph shot. "'Hey, we're looking for our friend, who may or may not be former White Fang.' Yeah frigging right."

Weiss threw her arms out to her sides. "It was just an idea!"

"Yeah, a bad one!" Ruby grumbled, leading them down the street.

"Weiss, could we not jump to conclusions just yet? I think we should just hear Blake's side of the story." Yang seemed to try playing the voice of reason, but it wasn't going well.

"I think when we hear it, you'll all realize that I was right!" Weiss responded.

"And I think that you'll probably have to accept the fact that you were WRONG." Seraph grumbled.

"And I think Weiss's hair looks wonderful today!"

"Yeah, good point." Seraph agreed.

WAIT.

"AGH, PENNY, WHEREDIDYOUCOMEFROM?"

Penny had somehow slipped behind them, a cheerful smile on her face.

"Hey, guys. What are you up to?" She asked innocently.

"We're looking for our friend, Blake." Seraph said.

"Ooooh, you mean the Faunus girl!" Penny said. The four teammates stared at Penny.

"Hold the phone, how did _you_ know that?" Seraph asked

"Uhh, the cat ears?" She replied pointing to her head.

"What cat ears? She wears a... bo _ooohhh_..." Yang petered off, now realizing why Blake always wore her bow. The realization left them all in silence, as a tumbleweed blew through in the wind.

"She does like tuna a lot..." Ruby whispered to Seraph, who gave a nod.

"So, where is she?" Penny asked.

"We don't know. She's been missing since Friday."

Penny gasped. "That's terrible!" She then approached an uncomfortable Ruby.

"Well, don't you worry Ruby, my friend! I won't rest until we find your teammate!"

"Uh, that's really nice of you, Penny!" Ruby said, trying to keep smiling. "But we're okay! Really! Right, guys?"

Ruby looked over Penny to direct her question at her team, who, besides Seraph, were suddenly gone. Seraph looked to the side, then did a double take.

 _'When did they...?'_ he wondered. _'...I'm seriously losing my touch here.'_

The tumbleweed from before made another pass.

"It sure is windy today!" Penny said.

"Y'know what, I think they've got the right idea." Seraph began. "Splitting up to cover more ground will help. Yang and Weiss as one team, you two as another."

"What about you?" Ruby asked.

Seraph grinned. "Isn't it obvious?" He swept his left arm out to the side, his black wing appearing in a burst of aura. "I'm the eye in the sky."

He turned to leave, then stopped and turned back. "Hey, Penny?"

Penny stopped marveling at Seraph's wing. "Yes?" she asked.

"You can think of me as a friend too, okay?"

Penny looked ecstatic. "Really?!"

He smiled. "Really really."

Seraph turned again. "Keep me posted!" With a flap of his wing, he took off into the sky of Vale.

* * *

Later that night, Seraph was gliding through the air, a frustrated look on his face.

 _'Nothing, nothing, and more nothing!'_ he thought to himself. _'Dammit, Blake, where the hell are you?'_

By now, he'd likely flown over all of the City of Vale twice over, trying to spot Blake. He eventually gave it up as a bad job, and went for a different approach. He'd gone to most everyone he knew in Vale, asking if they'd seen any sign of Blake. Unfortunately, none of them had.

 _'There's only one more person I can think to ask. I'd rather not use up that favor, but Blake is worth it.'  
_

Seraph then banked off, flying towards a new destination. Soon he reached a slightly more run-down area of Vale, touching down and banishing his wing. Muffled music was coming from the building he'd landed next to. This was a club owned and ran by Hei 'Junior' Xiong, a shady guy with connections to even more shady people. He was basically an info broker who hired out his men as muscle, and knew next to everything going on in Vale.

Seraph had a favor to cash in with Junior, due to giving him a big helping hand one night some time before he'd ever joined Beacon. As he stood there, he remembered it well.

* * *

 _ **Approximately 4 months or so before the first day at Beacon...  
**_

 _Within the City of Vale, during the waning hours of the evening, sat a different club, named Nirvaku. This one was just as popular as Junior's, but far more reputable, as it was owned by a Beacon graduate team. Inside, people were either lounging around the...lounge area, up at the lower bar getting alcoholic (or non-alcoholic, depending) drinks, or up on the dance floor, moving to the rhythm of the tunes that the DJ, a white-pink haired girl with neon-pink eyes wearing a black dress-type outfit with pink lines and pants that matched her hair with black patterns, was putting down.  
_

 _Meanwhile, at the upper bar, four guys were sitting around, having their own conversation. One was Seraph Argyros, who sat next to a brown haired guy with similarly brown eyes and ears on his head that marked him as a Faunus. He wore this techy-looking armor that had neon-green tints in it and a red scarf. The other two were likewise sitting nearby, one was a silver haired guy with grey eyes, wearing black light armor and dark brown pants. The other, behind the bar, was a red haired guy wearing dark sunglasses, a black jacket that gradiented to red with a white fur ruffle around the neck, and pants that matched his jacket colors._

 _The other three were Nyx, Orion, and Nero, the three males of Team NYON (Neon). The sole female of the team, Yoko, was the DJ, busy pumping up the dance floor. The four guys were all chuckling at a joke Seraph was wrapping up._

 _"And THEN..." Seraph said, arriving at the punch line. "And then she says, 'Now THAT'S a katana!"_

 _The 4 boys burst into varying states of laughter. "Geez, Seraph." Nyx said, getting a hold of himself. "Remind me why we all don't hang out more often?"_

 _"Because YOU GUYS are busy with Nirvaku and the occasional mission, and I'M getting ready to go to Beacon Academy soon."_

 _"Oh yeah, good point." Nero replied, sipping at his drink. He then belched, and a burst of flame came out._

 _"What exactly is in that stuff you're drinking?" Orion asked, eyes wide in shock._

 _"Oh nothing." Nero said. "Just something that reminds me of home."_

 _Orion shook his head at his partner's foolishness. "Anyway, Seraph." he continued. "You said you needed to see us to ask for a favor?"_

 _Seraph nodded. "Yep. Is my credit still good?"_

 _Nyx rolled his eyes. "Of course it is! Hell, we would've been in some deep shit if you hadn't helped us with-"_

 _"A-bah-bah-bah!" Nero interrupted. "Let's not get into THAT noodle incident again. Let's hear it, Seraph."_

 _"Right." Seraph chuckled. "Anyways, you guys remember when I took down that gang that was getting started, the Third Street Reds?"_

 _"Yeah, sort of." Nyx said, scratching his head. "What exactly happened again?"_

 _"Well," Seraph began. "I caught these three guys roughing up some Fox Faunus girl one night, right? It looked like it was about to get worse, so I decided to step in and let a couple friends of mine instruct them in the proper way to treat a lady."_

 _"Friends?" Nero wondered._

 _Seraph smirked, and held up his right fist, then his left. "Mr. Fisty, and his wife, Elaine!"_

 _The other guys snickered, amused by Seraph's own brand of foolishness._

 _"Anyhow, I kicked the crap out of them, the girl thanked me, and we went our separate ways. Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it. The three toughs went back to their buddies, told them everything. They decided to draw me out and teach me a lesson, by abducting the girl from before and threatening to do awful things if I didn't show."_

 _"And since you're 'just some punk kid', they weren't ready when you showed up, right?" Orion asked, smirking._

 _"Damn right. Anyhow, I went in, kicked their collective asses, got the girl out, called in the cops to put them away. The Third Street Reds were history before they got big, got a big kiss from the girl as a reward...basically, your textbook happy ending. And those are RARE."_

 _"Got that right." Nero agreed._

 _"So, what's that got to do with your favor?" Nyx questioned. "You haven't gotten into trouble with some other gang, have you?"_

 _"Yeah, but not by choice."_

 _"Well, there aren't many around anymore, and no small-timers could give you real trouble." Orion observed. "Sooo..."_

 _"I...may have issues with the Blue Akumas right now."_

 _The three teammates went silent. "The Blue Akumas?" Nero asked._

 _"Yep."_

 _"'One of the last big gangs around' Blue Akumas?" Orion said._

 _"Uh-huh."_

 _"'Rivals with Hei Xiong and his crew' Blue Akumas?" Nyx followed._

 _"YES."_

 _"What in Remnant are you doing getting involved with THEM?" Nyx asked._

 _Seraph got a serious look on his face, as he pulled out a scroll with a news article pulled up. "THIS." he said resolutely. "This is why."_

 _The three got a look at the article, and winced. "Oh, that." Nero said. "Heard that was the Akumas._

 _"Some poor businessman got murdered, and his daughter raped." Orion glared at the article. "Heinous bastards."_

 _"That girl is one of my friends, and they DARED to hurt her like that." Seraph growled, fist clenching in anger. "Lucky I haven't killed someone by now."  
_

 _"So, you want us to enact some payback with you, is that it?" Nyx said_

 _"No, already done." Seraph replied. "I tracked down the cocksucker and his boyband what did it, and made them pay for it. The cops have them behind bars, and they're gonna be stickin around for a LONG time."_

 _"Oh." went Nero. "So, what IS the issue here?"_

 _"Turns out, the cocksucker just so happened to be the cousin of the leader of the Akumas, Azul. Now she is PISSED OFF, because 'how dare anyone fuck with the Blue Akumas', and now she's gunning for me."_

 _"So, you want to get us together to back you up and go after THEM first, right?" Nyx deduced._

 _"Ehhhh...not EXACTLY." Seraph said._

 _"Guys...we've got company..." Orion interrupted, looking toward the entrance. "...and guess who."_

 _A group of eight guys had just walked in, dressed in black suits with white undershirts, blue ties and blue sunglasses._

 _"Blue Akumas?" Nyx said in confusion. "What are THEY doi-" He cut himself off, looking towards his guest. "Seraph, what did you do?"_

 _"Okay, please don't be mad." Seraph begged. "Or failing that, please don't be mad for long."_

 _"What. Did you do?" Orion asked evenly._

 _"Okay, I may not have been very careful with letting people know where I was gonna be tonight." Seraph explained. "I wanted to draw out the Akumas, preferably Azul, so I could take care of her on my own terms. I had to think quick, before they decided to target my family."_

 _Nyx sighed. "Alright, you're forgiven. But only since we've dealt with this kind of shit before." He got up from his seat. "C'mon, guys. We've got a job to do."_

 _Nero leapt over the bar, then paused and turned to grab and chug the last of his drink. As he turned back, the others were giving him a look._

 _"What?" he asked. "Never waste a good drink."_

 _The three guys only sighed, shaking their heads._

 _Meanwhile, the Akumas were busy drawing attention to themselves, accosting the other guests, knocking their drinks away. Yoko soon noticed this, and her eyes narrowed. She reached for and pressed a red button under her stand, then picked up her equipment, which also doubled as her weapon, a sniper rifle._

 _The music stopped, as well as all the strobe lights. A low tone began pulsing out of the speakers, and the video screens behind Yoko started flashing the message, 'CLEAR THE FLOOR'. The crowd cooperated, splitting down the middle, and retreating to the sides of the dance floor. Then, Nero, Nyx, and Orion landed in front of the intruders._

 _"Blue Akumas." Orion started. "What business do you have here tonight?"_

 _"We wanna speak to the manager!" Goon #1 said. "We haven't been served any drinks yet!"_

 _"You've got legs, you can walk to the bar and order something yourself." Nero commented. "But I'm pretty sure that's not really why you're here."_

 _"We're looking for some punk kid what messed with the Akumas. Teenager, dark hair, silver shirt, red coat. Sound familiar?"_

 _The three teammates shared a look. Then Nyx jerked his thumb at the crowd. "As you can see, we get a lot of guests here. We can't always keep track of every single one."_

 _"Well we were informed he'd be here tonight." Goon #2 said._

 _"Well maybe you were MISINFORMED." Orion insisted._

 _"And MAYBE we're gonna turn this shitty club upside down until we find him." Goon #1 sneered._

 _"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" Yoko yelled, angry at the insult._

 _"MAYBE, the guy you're looking for is closer than you think." came a voice. Seraph then landed in front of his allies. "MAYBE, he'd like to see you TRY to turn this place upside down. MAYBE, I'm wondering where the Hell your boss is, and why she couldn't see me personally."_

 _The Akumas Goons glared at their target. "And MAYBE, the Boss has called all her forces in to OBLITERATE you, kid. MAYBE, they're waiting outside to fuck you up."_

 _"Wait, ALL of you are here for me?" Seraph asked. Goon # 1 nodded, grinning. Which faded away as Seraph gave his own grin. "Good, saves me the trouble of hunting you all down later."_

 _A couple of the goons pulled out pistols, pointing them at Seraph. "There won't BE a later for you, kid."_

 _"Ha! I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Nero said. The three guys had drawn their weapons. Nero had a pair of red-hilted swords with barrels in the middle of the blades, Nyx had a pair of bladed guns he held in a reverse grip like tonfas, and Orion had a sweet-looking pistol in one hand, and a knife in the other._

 _The civilian crowd panicked at this, and took off running. They funneled through an alternate door in the back, conveniently labeled 'NOPE'. Little did some people know, that this led either to an alternate exit, or to an area where the fight could be viewed from safely._

 _Seraph held up a hand. "It's alright, guys. I can handle these creeps myself." Seraph affirmed. "Just be ready to back me up."_

 _The others lowered their weapons slightly. "If you say so." Nyx said._

 _"HEY, YOKO!" Seraph called to the DJ._

 _"YO!" she responded._

 _"Gimme a phat beat to beat these guys' asses to!"_

 _Yoko grinned. "You've got it!"_

 **(BGM: Reptile by Skrillex)  
**

 _The Akumas goons surrounded him, pulling out melee weapons._

 _"We're gonna make you pay, kid." Goon #1 threatened. "Get ready for it."_

 _Seraph merely took a stance, right hand waiting by his hip. For a few moments, the Blue Akumas seemed to hesitate. Then one of them charged forward, and swung his sword down at Seraph.  
_

 _Who was no longer there. He'd used his semblance to shift behind the guy, and had drawn Kitsuki, pointing it at his head._

"F-F-F-Fight."

 _He fired, the round blasting the goon away. The rest reacted, two of them opening fire with pistols._

 _Seraph deflected these shots with Kitsuki's blade, then swooped in and superkicked one in the chin, then turned and fired a few rounds into the other pistolier's midsection, knocking him out of the fight too. The others soon descended on him, and Seraph started parrying their strikes with Kitsuki, then sped behind them, converting his weapon to Katana Mode. He slashed at a couple of them that didn't turn in time, and traded blows with the three who did. Their strikes weren't good enough to get through his defenses, and Seraph spun in a circle, lashing out with Kitsuki. He caught all three goons, and sent them sprawling._

 _"Wow, those guys were nothing." Nero commented._

 _Then the thunder of many footfalls was heard, and started getting closer, and soon a multitude of Blue Akumas Henchmen came charging down the steps to the club, stopping near the bottom, weapons ready. Seraph turned to Nyx, Orion, and Nero._

 _"I guess this is where you guys get to have some fun." Seraph said, asking them to join him. They all nodded. Then Seraph turned back, only to be faced with one of the goons bringing a broadsword down on him._

 _Except the blow never came, as a small pink shot burst against the Henchman, sending him to the ground. Yoko had sniped him from her DJ's nest._

 _"LET'S MAKE SOME NOISE!" she called out._

"Flawless Victory."

 _The four guys rushed forward to meet with the small army of Blue Akumas, and began taking it apart one by one. Orion was parrying melee strikes with his knife, then shooting the goons before they could strike again. Nyx was firing his guns into the crowd that tried to surround him, then extended his blades, and made chop suey of the ones who decided to get close._

 _Several Akumas with guns opened fire on Nero, who used a mechanism in his weapons to rapidly spin his swords around the hilts, using them as a shield. As the barrage ended, he fired his weapons, knocking the guns out of their hands, then hit them with a pair of flying dropkicks, then slashing a couple more with his blades. Seraph was dashing around at breakneck speeds, cutting down goon after goon like blades of grass. Yoko was covering all of them, sniping down any Akumas trying to get the drop on her friends._

 _Soon, the small army had been reduced to three more Akumas left standing. The three decided to cut their losses, and turned to flee. Only to get attacked and blown back._

 **(End BGM)**

 _Walking forward were three figures, a woman flanked by two men. The woman was beautiful and slightly muscular, appearing to be in her late twenties. She had long hair colored blonde with blue eyes, wearing a short grey skirt and a grey jacket with long black boots. She also had a pair of grey gauntlets that went all the way to her elbow. The two men appeared to be identical, aside from their hair color, one black and the other navy. They both wore the Blue Akumas suit, but without the suit jacket.  
_

 _The leader, Azul, and her two head-cronies, Aku and Oni._

 _"Fucking cowards." Azul muttered. "So! Looks like I finally found the troublesome brat that thought he could interfere with the Blue Akumas and live to tell about it."_

 _"That'd be me. Hello!" Seraph said, waving cheerfully. Behind him, Yoko had gotten down beside her teammates from her perch.  
_

 _"I'm gonna make you BLEED for what you did to my cousin." Azul snarled. "Got anything to say for yourself, brat?"_

 _Seraph's eyes then went hard as he glared at Azul. "It was nothing against you or the Blue Akumas, Azul. Your cousin is a murdering, rapist bitch who got what he deserved. I don't really care who it is, those who fuck with my friends, my loved ones...GET. FUCKED. WITH."_

 _Azul flicked her wrists as blades extended out of the top of the gauntlets. Aku then drew his weapon, a sword whip, and Oni pulled out a pair of revolvers with saw-tooth blades on the underbarrels._

 _"Honestly, I don't give a fuck about you or your bullshit." she sneered. "I'm too angry for that! All I care about right now is RIPPING YOU TO SHREDS!"_

 **(BGM: Papermoon by Tommy heavenly6 {English Version by LittleJayneyCakes})  
**

 _Azul leapt forward, driving her right fist into the ground where they stood. The five jumped away from her attack, landing a few feet back._

 _"Orion, Nyx, you guys take the cronies!" Seraph called out. "Nero, Yoko, back me up with Azul!"_

 _"RIGHT!" they responded. Seraph had to bring up Kitsuki to block a downward strike from both of Azul's gauntlet blades. They held the clash for a few moments, before jumping back, readying for attack. Seraph rushed forward, his strikes getting blocked by Azul's blades or the gauntlets themselves. Her strikes were likewise parried by Seraph's uncanny swordsmanship. Azul then lashed out with a straight kick, sending Seraph backwards._

 _Aku was facing off with Orion, who was dodging and weaving through the swinging Sword-whip. As soon as he closed in, Aku retracted his sword whip, and started dueling against Orion and his knife. Orion was able to knock the sword to the side, giving him time to pistol-whip Aku, then shoot him several times in the sternum, and slug him in the face with his other fist._

 _Nyx, meanwhile, was busy dancing around Oni's blade attacks, who was likewise dancing around Nyx's. Soon, they crossed both of their weapons' blades against one another, trying to push each other away. They jumped back, both having their twin guns aimed at each other, and opened fire, unleashing a hail of bullets from both sides._

 _Back with the 3 on 1, Azul backflipped, then aimed her gauntlets at Seraph. The .50 caliber pistol barrels installed into them opened fire on him. Orion slid in front of him, spinning swords blocking the barrage, before unleashing a number of shots from his own guns. Azul held her gauntlets up, warding the bullets away. When the barrage stopped and she lowered her arms, a sniper round from Yoko caught her in the face, sending her stumbling back._

 _Seraph used this opening to blitz forth, and unleash several attacks at speed with his semblance. He ended this combo by gripping Kitsuki with both hands, and bringing it down in a kendo slash. Azul went flying back to the stairs, landing on her ass. As she got up, she noticed both Aku and Oni landing on either side of her. She growled in annoyance._

 _"Fall back!" she yelled. She turned tail and rushed up the stairs to the exit, Aku and Oni hot on her heels._

 _"Don't let them get away!" Nyx and Seraph said at once. The quintet took off after the fleeing criminals. The door to Nirvaku burst open, Azul, Aku, and Oni throwing themselves out the doorway, rolling to a stop and turning around on the other side of the street. Team NYON plus Seraph wasn't far behind._

 _"We're not gonna let you escape that easily, Azul!" Seraph shouted. Azul, however, merely smirked._

 _"Who said anything about escaping, brat? NOW!" she screamed._

 _There were several curious 'thump-whoosh' sounds, then a massive explosion went off behind Seraph, sending Team NYON flying forward, screaming._

 _"GUYS!" Seraph exclaimed. He then turned and saw what befell his friends. On the roof of Nirvaku were four Blue Akumas with rocket launchers, now reloaded and aimed at him._

 _"Contingency plans, brat!" Azul gloated. "Now, if you've got any last words, you'd better say them now, before my men blow you to bits."_

 _Seraph turned to give a hard glare at Azul, then started. He then grinned like a maniac._

 _"I've got four." Seraph said. "DON'T COUNT ON IT."_

 _This was followed by the outcries of the four men on the roof. Azul looked up to see each had been disabled from behind by men in black suits with matching hats, red ties, and red-tinted glasses._

'NO...' Azul thought

 _Then she heard the cries of pain from Aku and Oni, turning to see them fall. They were attacked from behind by a pair of similar-looking girls. One with long black hair in a white dress with Bladed Heels, the other with short black hair in a red dress with Red claws._

 _The Malachite Twins, Melanie and Miltia._

'Then that means...!'

 _"Thanks for the tip-off, kid." came another voice. A man that had gray eyes, short black hair, along with a matching beard and mustache. He wore a black vest over a white dress shirt, a red tie, black gloves and black dress pants, and red-tinted glasses. He was walking towards them, toting a rocket launcher on his shoulder. Hei 'Junior' Xiong himself._

 _"You were right." Junior said. "It WAS a nice night for a walk." He turned to his rival. "It ends here, Azul."_

 _"Xiong!" Azul seethed. "THAT'S IT! EVERYONE DIES!"_

 _She screamed as she activated her semblance, 'Assault Mode'. She was enveloped in a burst of her own navy-blue aura. When she reemerged, her appearance had changed._

 _She had dark blue skin, glowing red eyes and her hair had spiked up and turned translucent white. Her 'Assault Mode' also gave her enhanced strength and speed._

 _Junior fired his weapon, several rockets firing from the barrel, arcing towards and hitting Azul or her general area. She charged out of the smoke, right fist cocked back as she slammed it into the ground at Xiong's feet, who dodged backwards. She came up with a left punch, which was deflected by Junior, who had morphed his weapon into a large club._

 _The two gang rivals traded blows, until one lucky hit sent Xiong sprawling. By then, Seraph had charged in with several hard slashes, Azul barely stumbling from it. Then Melanie and Miltia had joined the fray, working in near-perfect sync, their respective combat styles complimenting each other. They gave no room for Azul to retaliate._

 _Next, Team NYON had gotten back on their feet, and were looking for some payback. Orion and Yoko provided suppressing fire on Azul as Nyx and Nero charged in, coming at her from both sides and attacking with their blades. She was working hard to block and dodge attacks coming from both pairs now, The Malachite sisters and the two NYON boys. Then Yoko and Orion joined the fray, Yoko leaping above her and firing off two shots which hit. Orion attacked ruthlessly with his knife, then shot Azul several times with his pistol._

 _Nyx came back at her, the tip of one of his blades now hooked. He hooked the back of Azul's leg and pulled, sending her off-balance. Melanie and Miltia came in with a simultaneous kick which sent her up, Yoko fired a charged shot that sent her up further, then Junior unleashed a spectacular hit with his club, sending her WAY up._

 _As Azul reached the peak of her sudden ascension, she started as she saw a figure backlit by the broken moon. Seraph, his wing extended, cocked back his right fist, right arm now wreathed in black-with-white-outline flames, and he let out a war cry as he descended, slamming his fist into Azul's midsection. With a loud **BOOM** , she was sent screeching down to the ground below, simultaneously snapped out of her 'Assault Mode' in the process. She then slammed into the road, heavily cracking it._

 **(End BGM)**

 _Seraph then alighted on the ground next to her, his wing vanishing. He collapsed onto his ass, breathing heavily._

 _"Well...that was fun." Nero said. Yoko had pulled out her scroll, and dialed the number of a friend._

 _"REAO! You're not gonna believe what just happened!" Yoko said into her scroll excitedly._

 _"Well I don't know about anyone else, but I had fun." Nyx said_

 _Seraph saw a hand reached down to give him a lift up, and took it. He then got pulled to his feet by Junior._

 _"Nice finisher, kid." he complimented. "Azul didn't know what hit her."_

 _"Thanks, Junior." Seraph replied. "So...now what?"_

 _"For us? Me, my boys, and the twins are gonna make ourselves scarce before the cops show up, then go back to the club to celebrate the end of the Blue Akumas! You wanna come with?"_

 _"Nah. I'm gonna stick around and help these guys clean up a bit. Thanks anyway."_

 _Junior nodded. "Suit yourself." He turned and started to walk away, his henchmen following. "Thanks for this, Argyros! I owe you one!"_

 _"Bye, Seraph!" the twins said in unison with a wave, smiling at the winged future huntsman-in-training, who waved back. They then fell into step flanking Junior. Seraph was approached by Team NYON, including Yoko, who had finished her call with Reao._

 _"You sure you don't wanna go with them, dude?" Nero asked, taking note of the very attractive twins._

 _"Hey, I brought this mess onto you guys." Seraph responded. "The least I can do is help you gather up the unconscious assholes."_

 _"Thanks, man." Nyx said, holding out his fist for Seraph to bump, which he did._

 _"Just saying, dude. If I were you, I wouldn't pass up that offer so easily."_

 _"Whatever, Nero. C'mon." The five started getting to work gathering the insensate Akumas for the cops who would show up later._

* * *

Seraph shook his head, smiling at the memory.

 _'That was one HELL of a night.'_ he thought to himself. Seraph then walked through the club entrance.

The music got louder as he entered, the sliding door-walls already open. Inside, Junior's goons were busy either milling about the dance floor, restocking bottles, or moving boxes around. Up on a balcony, the DJ in a red bear-head was dancing to the jams he was mixing for the club-goers. However, the man Seraph was looking for just so happened to be at the bar itself, idly cleaning a few glasses.

"Hey, Seraph." two voices spoke at once. Turning to the left, he saw the twins, Melanie and Miltia, approaching, smiles on their faces.

"Miltia, Mels!" Seraph greeted. "How have you two been?"

"Not TOO bad, all things considered." Melanie replied.

"So, why are you here, Seraph?" Miltia asked, hands clasped behind her back.

"Came to see Junior, needed to ask him for some info, is he around?"

"He's by the bar, buuut..." Melanie began.

"...wouldn't you rather spend some time with us instead?" Miltia finished with a shy smile.

Seraph smirked. "Sorry, ladies. Some other time, perhaps. My business is urgent. A friend is at stake."

The twins looked disappointed. "Oh, fine." Melanie pouted. "Nice seeing you anyway."

"Likewise." Seraph gave a little wave, and proceeded to the bar.

As he got there, Junior's back was turned. Seraph took a seat and rapped on the bar a couple of times to get his attention. When he turned, he looked pleasantly surprised.

"Seraph!" Junior said. "Nice to see you, kid. What're you doing here?"

"On business, I'm afraid." Seraph replied. "I wanted to call in my favor, get some info from you. I'm looking for someone in particular."

"Well, as long as you don't trash my club, I think I can help." Junior joked.

Seraph frowned. "I don't follow. What?"

Junior waved his hand. "Ah, some crazy blonde chick came in here some months back, she was looking for someone too. Things got...confrontational, and she beat the crap out of everyone, wrecked the place in the process."

Seraph stroked his chin in thought, then snapped his fingers. "That girl, about 17-ish?" he asked. "Long golden hair, purple eyes that go red when she's mad, uses a pair of shot-gauntlets?"

Junior's eyes went wide. "That's her! You know her?"

"She's on my team at Beacon." Seraph grinned.

Junior groaned. "Of course she is. Anyway, who're YOU after?"

Seraph held out his scroll, pulling up an image of Blake on it. "This is another one of my teammates, Blake Belladonna. She ran off around Friday, and she's been missing all weekend. We're all out trying to track her down."

Junior examined the photo, nodding a little. "Right. Mind if I ask why she ran away?"

"She's afraid of what we'll think of her now that we...know something about her past. That's all I'm saying."

Junior nodded again. "Got it." he said, attention back on the image. "Hmm...dark hair, little black bow, amber eyes..." He snapped his fingers. "I think I've got it."

"You've seen her?!" Seraph asked excitedly.

"Well, one of my boys did. Says he spotted a girl of her description creeping around the loading docks earlier with some Faunus guy, before losing sight of them. I guess you could check there."

Seraph looked confused. "Faunus guy? What guy?" he asked.

"Dunno, some guy her age, blond hair, open shirt, same color monkey tail."

"Him? What's Blake doing with THAT guy?" Seraph wondered.

"What, you know him too?"

"Nah, just saw him around earlier the day Blake ran." Seraph shrugged. "Probably nothing to worry about."

"Well alright then. Is that all you needed?"

"Yep." Seraph sighed. "I guess this makes us even."

Junior looked thoughtful for a second. "Y'know what? You can have that info, on the house."

Seraph had a shocked look on his face. "R-really?" he asked, unsure.

"Sure." Junior grinned. "It's the least I can do since you helped me take down Azul and the Akumas. I figure that bit of info isn't equal to the favor from that."

Seraph grinned back, offering a fist-bump, which Junior took. "You're the best, Junior. Thanks a ton."

"You got it." Junior then smiled knowingly. "You sure you don't wanna stick around?" he asked. "The girls have taken quite a shine to you, you know. And they don't show interest in a man very often. Or ever."

Seraph shook his head amusedly. "Tempting, but no thanks. My friend takes priority. Like I told them, maybe some other time." He got up from his seat, turning to leave. "Thanks again for the info, Xiong!"

"Don't be a stranger, kid!" Junior called, going back to his work. As Seraph began to leave, he noted Miltia and Melanie. Mels gave him a nod and wave, whilst Miltia likewise waved, but had a coy smile on her face as well. He waved back. Seraph always suspected it was Miltia that had a crush on him more than her sister.

Returning to the outside, he immediately brought out his wing, and took off into the sky. He then altered course to take him to the loading docks.

 _'Still, what IS Blake doing with that Faunus guy from the boat?'_ Seraph pondered. _'Maybe...that wink he gave her. Could he tell she was a Faunus then? Perhaps she went to him for comfort or something, or more likely he approached her. I wonder why they're at-'_

 **BOOM**

Seraph was shaken from his thoughts as he heard an explosion go off. He looked ahead at his destination, seeing a plume of smoke rise from the loading docks area.

 _'Well, whatever they're up to, it just got exciting!'_ He flapped his wing to boost him faster towards his target.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the loading docks, Blake and her new friend/companion, Sun Wukong, were busy fighting off Roman Torchwick and the White Fang grunts he'd brought with him. The crime boss growled in annoyance as Sun sent one flying over his head, and aimed his cane and fired a whistling shot at Sun, who spun his staff to block and diffuse the shot.

"He's mine!" Blake called, leaping into action.

She got in close and became a blur of afterimages as she slashed both blades of Gambol Shroud at Roman, who backed away and deflected each would-be blow with his cane at unbelievable speeds. Blake continued to dash, hop over, and slide around Roman to try and find an opening, but her enemy, while barely deflecting the attacks, was able to land several blows on Blake, with one final beating with his cane caused her to go down.

Immediately, Sun rushed in to take her place, separating his staff into a pair of FUCKING SHOTGUN-CHUCKS. Sun swung each gun at Roman while firing everything he had at him, but even with the rapid series of shots and nun-chuck attacks, Roman managed to defend himself against every last round and strike, until a very short pause allowed Blake to get a slash in and knock him on his ass.

On his back, Roman noticed a container hanging by a crane right above the two warriors, and fired a shot at its supports. Blake leapt behind it, but Sun barely missed it when he jumped forward, subsequently ending up right below the nozzle of Roman's cane. Just as he was about to fire, his and Sun's attention were drawn to a familiar voice.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

A literal flying dropkick landed square in Roman's face as he turned to the source. He got sent on his ass for the second time that night, as Seraph landed next to Sun, wing fully extended and Kitsuki at the ready in Gun Mode, set to 'Concussive Rounds', and aimed right at Roman.

"End of the line, Torchwick!" Seraph taunted.

"Hey, thanks for the save." Sun said.

"Don't mention it."

By now, Blake had emerged from the other side of the container, spotting the new arrival. "Seraph!" she called in surprise.

Seraph turned his attention to his wayward teammate, his expression unimpressed. "Blake Belladonna, where HAVE you been?!" he scolded. "And what sort of time do you call this? You are in SO MUCH trouble when we get back to the dorm!" He then grinned, showing that he didn't really mean it.

Despite herself, Blake smiled at Seraph's antics. Which quickly turned to worry. "Look out!" she yelled.

Seraph whipped back around to Roman, who had Melodic Cudgel aimed at him and Sun, and he fired twice. Seraph wrapped his wing around himself and spun, his wing taking the shots from either intended target.

"Hey!" Called another familiar voice.

Ruby appeared on a rooftop overlooking the battle, Crescent Rose extended and ready for action.

 _'Ruby! Thank god for the cavalry!'_

"Well, hello, Red!" Roman said mockingly. "Isn't it past your bedtime?" Penny then appeared next to Ruby.

"Ruby, are these people your friends?" she asked cautiously

"Penny, get back!" Ruby warned. While her attention was diverted, Roman snarled and fired his cane at Ruby, launching the young Huntress-in-training screaming back from the explosion's force and sending her scythe flying away.

Roman gave off a professional-level evil laugh at his successful attack on the Red Reaper.

"RUBY!" Seraph screamed in worry. His gaze focused on Torchwick, his features contorting in anger. "You'll pay for that, you son of a bitch!" He launched himself forward, swapping Kitsuki into Katana mode. Roman raised his cane in time to block the incoming attack, and began to face off with Seraph.

Penny turned her head toward the criminal and gave him a glare, walking forward while Ruby tried to get back up.

"Penny, wait! Stop!" she said, hand raised in a futile attempt to stop her.

"Don't worry, Ruby." Penny assured her. "I'm combat ready!"

Her backpack mechanically opened up, and from within came a single sword that extended and multiplied into several blades hovering over Penny's back like a pair of wings. Leaping from the rooftop with the weapons acting as wings, she sent three of her swords to knock a pair of White Fang soldiers down before she even hit the ground.

She proceeded to fling the swords at one enemy, impale another to a wall, creating a barrier of spinning steel against a running attack, leaping over a goon with her swords in tow, and finally making a wheel that she threw to knock a small crowd of White Fang goons off their feet.

"Whoa!" Sun exclaimed, taking the opportunity to clear the battle-zone.

Seraph was busy trying to get past Roman's Bartitsu-style with his own modified sword style. This was proving difficult, and Seraph gained a bit of begrudged respect for the man. Scumbag he may be, but the bastard knew how to fight. Seraph increased the speed of his strikes, which seemed to start helping, as Roman began to lag behind in blocking. Seraph spotted an opening, smacked Roman with his wing, and unleashed a trio of heavy strikes on the orange-haired criminal's front, sending him to the ground.

Three Bullheads came from the skies and opened fire on the fight below, but Penny merely blocked with spinning swords and launched two more of her swords into the wall behind her, which in turn pulled their wielder back with their barely visible strings. When her swords swirled around her again, she commanded them to open their points and build up a large glowing ball of green light. With a double-punching action, several bright lasers cracked the pavement when they fired at the transports and sliced each in half, causing several of the White Fang members inside to fall.

Ruby watched as Bullheads fell in pieces behind her. Stunned, she turned back to Penny as she aimed and launched her swords at the remaining Bullhead holding a container of Dust and pulled back on their wires, tugging the aircraft with them.

"Woah." Ruby said in awe. "How is she doing that?"

Seraph was likewise distracted by Penny's newly showcased power. _'"Combat Ready", indeed.'_ Seraph thought to himself in amazement. He turned back to finish off Torchwick.

And stared down the barrel of Melodic Cudgel, right in his face.

"Well...shit."

Roman fired, the blast hitting Seraph square in the face, sending him flying back a considerable distance. Roman grimaced as he saw the Bullhead's flight fall under Penny's control, and turned tail towards the last transport.

Penny, after her large green pupils dilated for a second, pulled with all her might on the strings, sending the aircraft careening into a stack of crates, causing a small scale explosion.

"These kids just keep getting weirder..." Roman said, shaking his head. With his observation made, he retreated inside the remaining ship and used his cane to close the door. The jet lifted off, flying away from the lost battle. Seraph, who had gotten back up, fired futilely at the retreating Bullhead, a few rounds nicking the hull. He stopped as it got too far away, pulling a magazine from his coat and reloading Kitsuki.

 _'Next time, Torchwick.'_ he thought. _'Next time.'_

* * *

Later, a handful of police cars had arrived at the docks, where Ruby, Blake, Seraph, Sun, and Penny were sitting on some boxes in silence. That was, until Weiss and Yang appeared on the scene. Ruby quickly got up to head off her partner.

"Look Weiss, it's not what you think, she explained the whole thing. See, she doesn't actually have a bow, she has kitty ears and they're actually kind of cute..." She was speaking quickly to try and explain the situation. Weiss ignored her and squared off with Blake, who calmly looked her down. Seraph got up to help defend her, but Blake waved him down.

"Weiss," she began. "I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with the-"

"Stop!" Weiss interrupted. "Do you have any idea of how long we've been searching for you? Twelve hours. That means I've had twelve hours to think about this. And in that twelve hours, I've decided..."

Yang, Seraph, Sun, and Ruby looked on in worry.

"I don't care." Everyone stared at the heiress, surprised.

"You don't care?" Blake asked.

"You said you're not one of them anymore, right?"

"No, I-I haven't been since I was younger-"

"Ah-bah-bah-bah-bah!" Weiss said, silencing her. "I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is that the next time something this big comes up... you'll come to your teammates. And not some..." She looked at Sun behind her as she caught herself, "Someone else."

Blake, look at the rest of her team, who smiled at her, and Seraph gave her an affirmative nod. She wiped a tear from her eye, nodding at Weiss.

"Of course."

Weiss smiled and nodded back. The moment was serious for a second more until...

"Yeah!" Ruby exclaimed. "Team RWBYS is back together!"

"Now and forever!" Seraph said, high-fiving Ruby. Weiss, as the six gathered with each other, pointed accusingly at Sun.

"I'm still not quite sure about how I feel about you!" She said. Sun laughed nervously.

"Hey, wait a minute..." Ruby spoke up. "Where's Penny?"

They all looked around. She was right, the strange girl had vanished while they were talking.

"Eh, it's alright." Seraph said. "She'll turn up again sooner or later."

From the darkened back seat of a limo, Penny watched the group of friends reuniting with each other.

"You should know better than to go running around in a strange city." The driver said. Penny lowered her head sadly.

"I know, sir." The limo sped off into the night.

"Penny, your time will come..."

* * *

In his office, Ozpin held a scroll showing a "LIVE FEED" of Team RWBYS at the docks. He closed the video and opened up an incoming communication. It read that it was from someone named Qrow, whose team name and other information were left blank, his only message reading thus,

QUEEN HAS PAWNS

"Hmmm..." Ozpin said in contemplation, taking a sip from his tea.

* * *

Elsewhere, Torchwick walked into a large warehouse with a shadowy interior. He went over to a table and placed a case of mysterious contents, most likely Dust, down onto it. He sighed in exhaustion.

"How very disappointing, Roman." came the voice of a woman. Roman turned around suddenly when he heard the voice and their noisy entrance.

"Whoa! Hehe... I wasn't expecting to see you guys so soon..." he said, laughing nervously. Of the three figures before Roman, only the woman with glowing yellow eyes and flowing dark hair was visible.

"We were expecting... more from you." she said. Roman laughed a little before getting serious.

"Hey! You were the ones who suggested working with those stupid mutts from the White Fang." He complained. The woman chuckled darkly.

"And you will continue to do so." The woman summoned a fireball in her hand and stepped out of the darkness, eyes glowing gold, with her two companions, a violet gray-haired man and mint-haired, tanned woman.

"We have big plans for you, Roman. All we ask is... a little cooperation." She smiled evilly.

 **...**

 **Just so we're clear, I do NOT own Team NYON, or anything to do with them. They were created by Stephen Mitchell, aka 'te Flying Ninja' on youtube. Look it up, the animation isn't the best in the world, voice acting could use work, but I liked it overall.**

 **Welp, that concludes the 'Volume One Arc'. That didn't take as long as expected. Maybe I should have wrote in some events that could have occurred between 'The Badge and the Burden' and 'Jaunedice'. Aw well, too little too late. Next up is gonna be the 'Interlude 1 Arc', going over some stuff happening in the time between Season One and Two. Until then, please leave a review, and always remember that you just lost The Game.**

 **LLaP**


	5. The Rhovanion Forest

**Okay, before we get started, I have a couple things to say.  
**

 **Firstly, if anyone has any suspicions about my content having similarities to other content, you're right. For some parts of the story, I've drawn inspiration from at least one other. Trogdor7620's self-insert fic RWBY: Reckoning, to be specific. He was totally right about Weiss not getting any comeuppance for wrongfully berating Ruby. There's also the part with Ruby's night terrors (which I used to solidify the friendships), and the Hunter-Gatherer mission in this chapter. I can't say I thought them up originally, but I can admit I drew inspiration from them.**

 **Secondly, there's the presence of Doctor Who (and Mass Effect, as you'll see in a minute) in my story. These are no mere references. They are an actual TV show and Video game in-universe. For my fic anyway. How can this happen, you ask? Let me put it this way...**

 **Reality - Our Universe = Real, RWBYverse = Fiction**

 **My Fanfic - Our Universe = Fiction, RWBYverse = Real**

 **Much of our popular movies and games and books, etc are drawn from that fictitious world, created by...someone in Remnant's history, I dunno. It's complicated, try not to think about it too hard.**

 **At any rate, I present to you chapter 5! Allons-y!**

 **...**

 _"C'mon, please."_ the man on the screen begged. _"C'mon, you clever little nanogenes, figure it out. The mother, she's the mother. That's gotta be enough information, figure it out!"  
_

 _"What's happening?"_ the blonde girl next to him asked.

 _"There, you see!"_ he said, pointing at the yellow lights dancing around the girl and little boy. _"Recognizing the same DNA."_

At this moment, Team RWBYS and Team JNPR, plus Velvet and her team leader, Coco Adel, were sitting in one of the recreational rooms, enraptured by the show on screen. This afternoon, the two first-year teams found they had a load of free time, and had all decided to do something fun together for a change. None of them could agree on an activity, until Seraph piped up. He asked if he (and Blake) could introduce them to Doctor Who. The others decided, why not? It could be fun.

They all had retreated to one of the bigger Rec rooms, and had ran into Velvet and Coco, who was subsequently introduced. When told what they were up to, the Second-Year girls decided to join them, as they had nothing to do at the moment. Coco had actually started flirting shamelessly and aggressively with Seraph, just to see if she could get him riled up.

Seraph, however, was able to keep his cool, and even return fire a bit. This was due to him having gotten help practicing against flirtatious girls (thank you female friends from outside Beacon), and the fact that Velvet had already told him Coco was pretty much attached to her partner, Fox Alistair. The girls on his team seemed to be rather annoyed when the flirting went on for a little too long, since Coco wouldn't back down. Eventually, they stopped so that they could get on with the viewing.

Seraph had suggested they start at Series One of the 'New Who' era, as going through the 'Old Who' era would take too long. They had started with a recap episode, which told of The Doctor, his companions, and their adventures in time and space from his First Incarnation to his Eighth. Then they started watching the proper episodes of Series 1, and were currently near the end of 'The Doctor Dances'.

Onscreen, the nanogenes had been able to repair Jamie thanks to reading his mother Nancy's DNA, to which the newer viewers let out a cry of joy to match The Doctor's. After that, Captain Jack Harkness swooped in and took away the incoming bomb with his ship, saying his goodbyes to everyone.

Then The Doctor walked forward, gathering all the nanogenes to his hands.

 _"What are you doing?"_ Rose asked.

 _"Software patch."_ The Doctor replied with a grin. _"Gonna e-mail the upgrade. You want moves, Rose? I'll give you moves."_

He then cast his hands forth, sending the cloud of nanogenes at the crowd of gas mask zombies. As the nanogenes made contact, they immediately and rapidly started repairing everyone. They all started to collapse, returning to their senses and removing the masks.

The Doctor had the biggest, happiest smile on his face. _"Everybody lives, Rose!"_ he crowed. _"Just this once, EVERYBODY LIVES!"_

"YES!" Ruby cried out. "That's so awesome!"

"This is so cool!" Yang said for the nth time that evening. "I'm really glad we agreed to this, thanks Seraph."

"Yes, this has been rather enjoyable." Weiss remarked.

"I told you guys you'd like it!" Seraph said.

"Even if some of the science-fiction stuff goes over our heads sometimes." Velvet admitted.

"WAIT A MINUTE!" Nora yelled, startling everyone. "What about Harkness? Is he dead?"

Seraph shared a look with Blake, and chuckled. "Wait for it."

The next scene depicted Jack taking the bomb away, as he was starting to accept how screwed he was. As he nursed his 'last drink', he began to hear music, and saw that The Doctor had landed his TARDIS within his ship. Rose invited him in, and he watched as Rose and The Doctor danced to the tune of the next song, ending the episode.

"Well," Pyrrha said, giggling. "That's ONE way to end an episode, I guess."

"Yeah, I'm glad Captain Harkness survived." Yang said. "I think I see where you got the idea from when you flirted with Velvet that one day."

Velvet immediately blushed.

"Ohhooo?" Coco said in amusement, leaning towards Seraph. "You were flirting with Velvet? This is the first I'VE heard of it. I mean, I saw her blushing when she told me about you, but still..."

"Weiss?" Seraph said cooly. "Remind me later to SHOOT Yang."

"Certainly." she replied. "Any time in particular you'd like to be reminded?"

"Sometime tomorrow would be nice, thank you."

After a moment of silence, everyone started laughing.

* * *

The next day, Teams JNPR and RWBYS had been given a joint mission. A supply run, collecting special ingredients from the Rhovanion Forest, which was north of Forever Fall. Due to reports saying that Grimm activity in Rhovanion Forest was reduced, it was just the two First-Year teams plus the Bullhead pilot going out on retrieval.

On the way, Seraph had struck up a conversation with their Bullhead pilot, Flight Lieutenant Slate Cortez. Seraph had recognized the man, as it turned out he'd been the one to portray a character in Mass Effect 3, Normandy Shuttle Pilot Steve Cortez. Slate explained he'd won a special contest and had been selected to play the as-then uncertain role. Turns out, he'd basically ended up playing himself, just in the world of Mass Effect. He was currently telling them what he'd known about the original planned end of the game.

"Really?" Seraph asked. "THAT'S how they were gonna end the game? The Multicolored Choices?"

"That's so LAME." Jaune said.

"Tell me about it." Cortez replied. "Thankfully, the developers got an extension on their time to truly finish the game, and the fans were pretty understanding about the release date getting pushed back."

"Yeah, the ending we got was a LOT better than that garbage." Yang commented.

"I know, right?" Cortez continued. "Instead, we got shown that the multiple choice was a trap, and if anything but destroy was chosen, the Reapers win. Choose Destroy, and we see that Shepard was slowly and covertly being indoctrinated via contact to all the Reaper tech over time, and he'd just fought it off. Then we get into the REAL final battle, and eventually use the Catalyst to destroy the Reapers, saving the galaxy."

Seraph sighed. "SO much better. Gotta say, with how successful ME 3 was, I didn't think you'd stay as a Bullhead pilot."

"I love it, flying is what I enjoy most in the world. Sure, it's dangerous, what with all the Grimm. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. My husband, Robert, bless him, is really supportive, regardless of the danger."

"From what you've told us, he sounds like a wonderful man." Pyrrha said.

"Yeah, he'd love to meet you guys. Maybe one of these days, huh?"

"OOOH! Maybe you could introduce us to the other Mass Effect actors too!" Nora said excitedly.

"Nora!" several voices rang out in disapproval.

"He's got better things to do than introduce a bunch of fans to his former coworkers." Ren said calmly.

"Hey, it's alright." Cortez assured. "There's a chance it could happen, I'm still really good friends with some of them, and we keep in touch."

"We won't exactly complain if you can, but don't bother if it's too much trouble." Seraph advised.

"Yeah, yeah. You know, I'm STILL jealous that you get to fly under your own power, by the way."

"What can I say, I'm a lucky SOB." Seraph shrugged.

A couple minutes later, Cortez spoke up again.

"Looks like we've got a spot nearby that I can set her down at." he called out. "Prepare for drop-off."

Everyone made sure their equipment was locked, loaded, and ready. The hatch opened, giving the howling wind purchase into the aircraft.

"Get ready, we're approaching the LZ in five...four...thr-" The pilot was interrupted, as the Bullhead veered violently to the left, causing several of the students to fall to the floor, while everyone else struggled to keep their balance.

"What the hell was that?!" Yang yelled, hanging on tightly. Outside, something massive flew by, almost the same size as the Giant Nevermore from the Initiation. The Bullhead swerved again, causing the rest of the teams to hit the deck with a cacophony of grunts.

"We've got company!" Cortez yelled, getting a hold of the controls.

As it passed again, they got a better look. It looked like a horrific cross between a Wasp and a Dragonfly. Some of the students knew what this was. An Uzekamanzi, one of the rarer forms of Grimm.

It vanished as it flew above the jet. Before anyone could react, a loud thud resounded on the roof, causing the Bullhead to buck violently.

"Dammit! That bastard's gonna kill us!" Cortez growled. "Everyone, bail out! I'll keep this thing occupied!" Before they could move, the Uzekamanzi tore through the roof, shearing the panel away to reveal the ugly fucker's face. Letting out a loud screech, it tried shoving its head through the gap.

Blake and Seraph lunged forward, burying their blades into one of the compound eyes. The creature screeched in pain, and reared it's head back out. Blake used her semblance and flipped back, leaping out of the open hatch. Everyone else began to follow suit, until only Weiss and Seraph were left. Before they could follow, a massive spike-lined stinger pierced through the floor in their way, missing them by inches. It disappeared, then reappeared somewhere to the side, then disappeared again.

"We need to go, NOW!" Weiss yelled, moving toward the exit.

"Then go!" Seraph called back. "I'm gonna get our pilot!"

"What?! But he told us to-"

"I said GO!" Seraph shoved her out, and she fell towards the forest. Seraph held his arms up to ward away the sparks from damaged equipment, and entered the cockpit. As he approached, he saw Slate fighting the control yoke, keeping it in an iron grip with one hand while inputing commands to a console with the other.

"Why are you doing here?!" he yelled. "I told you to bail out!"

"Come on! We can still get out of here!" Seraph shouted over the alarm, putting a hand on Slate's shoulder. The pilot shook his head.

"Just leave me, Goddammit! I only needed to get you guys here safely! If any of you get killed, I'll never be able to forgive myself!" He grunted as he kept the control stick in check. "Besides, my chute's damaged. I can't make it anyway."

"I CAN FLY, YOU MORON!" Seraph yelled back. "I'll carry us both down! You've gotta get back home to Robert, remember?!"

Cortez paused for a moment, then nodded. "Fine, just gimme a few seconds!" He finished typing on the console. "Alright, done!"

Slate slapped the release on his harness, and it retracted. Suddenly, the Uzekamanzi's stinger plunged through the windscreen, piercing the pilot's chest, right where the harness release had been.

"CORTEZ!" Seraph screamed

He gave a strangled gasp, then slumped forward, dead in mere seconds. The stinger tried to move back out, but had somehow gotten caught. Seraph stared in abject horror, nearly unbelieving of what he'd just witnessed. However, something in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he looked at the readout Slate had been messing with.

AUTHORIZATION CONFIRMED. SELF-DESTRUCT ACTIVATED: 10 SECONDS.

Seraph swore. He then quickly ripped Slate's dogtags from around his neck, and charged out of the open hatch.

"SHIIIIIIIIIIT!" Seraph yelled, mostly in frustration. He then summoned his wing, alighting on the air, and turned back to the jet.

Suddenly, the Bullhead detonated in a massive explosion. He heard a pained screech come from the Uzekamanzi from within it, and saw it dropping to the forest, half of its body blown away. It was already beginning to disintegrate before it even hit the ground. Cortez had taken the fucker with him.

Seraph turned and flew down to the forest floor. When he arrived, he banished his wing, and leaned back against a tree. He looked down at the dog tags in his hand, staring blankly.

"Seraph!" he heard Ruby call. The rest of his team and JNPR rushed through the brush toward him.

"What in the name of Oum were you thinking?!" Weiss screamed in outrage. "Do you have some kind of death wish or something?!"

Her outrage began to dim as she noticed she wasn't getting a response. "Seraph?" she called to him. She and the others noticed what he held.

"Seraph, is Cortez...?" Ren asked hesitantly, even though he probably knew the answer.

"Dead." Seraph rasped out. "Impaled. I...I couldn't...save..."

Everyone took on their own looks of grief. Ren held Nora close, patting her head.

"I...I-I've..." Seraph started weeping. "I've...never seen...s-someone actually..."

Yang stepped forward, embracing Seraph in a comforting hug. Everyone understood what he was trying to say.

Before today, Seraph had never actually seen someone die right in front of him like that. Never. Not even the day he'd lost his brother.

After a couple of minutes, Seraph had straightened himself up, and Yang let him out of her comfort hug. "Thanks, Yang." he said to the blonde. "I'll be fine, for now at least." He looked back down at the dog tags, then put them safely in a pocket.

"Well, seems we're trapped here with limited supplies, and no shelter." Yang remarked. "What do we do now?"

"For starters, we'll need to set up a base." Weiss said. "That way some of us can collect what we were sent to gather, while the rest of us keep watch and build a signal fire."

"Yeah, camping trip!" Ruby said, trying her best to sound enthusiastic, but failing.

Blake perked up, alert. Her bow was twitching.

"Blake?" Seraph said. "Do you hear someth-" He was interrupted by a thud, like something heavy landing nearby. A few moments later, it happened again, louder this time. Hearing some trees creak, soon a line of them collapsed to reveal another Grimm.

It was huge, about 7 meters tall. It had a reptilian visage, including the white mask, a robust build, an upright posture, a long tail and rows of serrated fins along the back. Its two red eyes looked down on them all, glowing hatefully. This species of Grimm was called the Gojira.

Everyone stayed where they were, wary of what to do next. But Seraph...

His reaction was far worse than everyone else's. He was almost frozen solid, if it weren't for the shaking. His pupils had dilated, and he stared back at the monster with naked fear. Several of his friends took note of this with worry.

"R-Run or fight?" Yang asked, unsure. "Run or fight?!"

The Gojira unleashed an ear-splitting roar, which snapped Seraph out of his funk.

"RUN, DEFINITELY RUN!" Ruby yelled.

Everyone took off into the woods, scattering into ones and twos. Seraph, however, had been off like a shot as soon as Ruby finished. He was tear-assing through the trees of the Rhovanion, moving at enhanced speed to put as much distance between him and the Gojira as possible.

After about a minute, he flinched, and ground to a halt.

 _'What the fuck are you DOING, Seraph?'_ he thought, smacking both sides of his face a couple times. _'Come on, man, get a FUCKING GRIP.'_

He shook his head about, as if trying to dislodge something. _'You are NOT that helpless kid anymore. You are a FUCKMOTHERING Huntsman, now fucking act like it. If you act like a scared little snot-nosed brat, you'll only get your friends ki-'_

A high-pitched scream echoed in the distance nearby. And it wasn't Jaune this time. The Gojira had decided on a target to pursue.

"Weiss." Seraph muttered in dread. He immediately summoned his wing, and shot over the treeline. He began to fly in the general direction of the scream, and soon found what he was looking for.

Along a large roaring river, Weiss was running like hell, the Gojira following close by. He nearly seized up in fear again, but worry for his teammate overrode it. Her liberal use of glyphs was keeping it at a distance, but then it pulled out a new move. It began charging a mass of dark purple fire in its mouth, then fired it in a ball at Weiss. It didn't hit her directly, but it exploded right behind her, sending her flying into the river with a scream.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

The Gojira turned to the source of Seraph's yell, only to see one of his Super-Flashbang Grenades tumbling into its face, before detonating.

The beast let out a roar of pain, as its sense of sight and hearing were temporarily, yet painfully, disabled. Leaving it open to Seraph, who was flying in with his right leg back, fully engulfed in black-white flames.

"IMPACT!" His kick impacted the Gojira's face on its left side, the loud **BOOM** resounding through the surrounding forest. The Gojira's head more or less exploded, and the rest of its body was sent sprawling. It landed in a heap of crushed trees, slowly begining to disolve. Seraph stayed where he was for a moment, shocked that he'd actually just killed a Gojira, then looked to where Weiss was sent into the river, and started in surprise.

The current was carrying her away, of course, but he expected her to be at least on the surface. No, instead, Weiss was struggling to try and stay above it. This made no sense. Surely Weiss would know how to swim?

Then he remembered. The breath attack from earlier, a Gojira specialty. They could launch blasts of destructive energy from their mouths that not only hurt you, there was a chance that they could paralyze you for a variable amount of time. It must have got Weiss' legs.

As he came to his conclusion, he saw Weiss fully go under. With a cry of shock, he shot through the air towards the river, ignoring the exhaustion that was trying to set in from using up about 95% of his aura. Once over the water, he immediately shot downwards, diving into the river, wing folding in as he did. It didn't take him long to spot Weiss, slowly sinking to the bottom as the river carried her off. He swam toward her like a madman, and scooped her up in his arms. He re-extended his wing, and gave it an almighty flap, shooting towards the surface. As he breached it, he aimed towards the trees, flying inland for a few seconds, then landing.

He set Weiss down on the ground, and started checking her over. She had a pulse, which was good. What was NOT good, was that she wasn't breathing. He began preforming mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Thankfully, this didn't take long, and soon, Weiss was coughing, ejecting the water from her lungs, eyes opening back up.

"Weiss!" Seraph exclaimed. "Thank god! I almost thought we'd lost you."

Weiss looked at him slightly unfocused. "Seraph?" she asked.

"That's me. You okay?"

"I think so." Weiss sat up a bit, shaking her head clear. She then looked at Seraph in suspicion. "Wait, did you just kiss me?"

Seraph frowned. "The Kiss of Life, yes. I had to get you breathing again, you know. I'm actually hurt that you'd think I'd take advantage of you like that."

Weiss looked down, ashamed. "Sorry." she muttered. Then she looked back at him. "Thank you, Seraph. You saved my life."

"Anytime." Seraph said, smiling a bit again. "Better get in contact with the others, see if we can congregate somewhere." He reached into his coat, then paused. He started patting himself down. "I can't find my scroll!" He stopped, starting to realize what happened.

"Shit, must have lost it in the river diving after you." he sighed. "You still got yours?"

"Yes, one moment." She reached into a hidden pocket, and pulled out her own scroll...which was cracked and slightly dented. The two stared at it for a moment.

"I think I remember getting dashed into a rock." Weiss finally said. "That must be how it got damaged."

"Well...shit."

"Now what?"

Seraph got back up. "Now we've gotta find some place to lay low until the others can find us, or a rescue bird arrives."

Weiss nodded, then tried to stand, only to find that she couldn't. "M-My legs..."

"That Gojira grazed you with its breath attack." Seraph explained. "Your legs are gonna be paralyzed for a while, I'm not sure how long. Could me minutes, could be hours. It's weird, though. Usually that ability is only manifested in the pack-leader analogue, the Gojira D-Daimao. That bastard back there must have been a freak of nature, or something."

Weiss looked at Seraph strangely, catching his sudden stutter, but not saying a word. "Well, that's just perfect." she huffed.

Seraph then bent down, and scooped her back up again. "Eeep!" she squeaked. "W-W-What are you doing?!"

"Carrying you, obviously. You can't walk, so I have to walk for both of us."

"Um, r-right." Weiss said, blushing a bit.

Seraph walked through the Rhovanion for about five minutes, both of them keeping an eye out for something to serve as shelter. Eventually, they came across a small cave, a natural formation, large enough to provide cover, and small enough that they could see the back of it and find no Grimm or signs that Grimm live there.

Seraph set Weiss down in the cave, then went back outside. He located a smaller-sized tree, and started dicing it into firewood. He brought this all back into their cave, and set up a makeshift campfire, which would help keep them warm since they had soaked clothes.

As they sat around the fire, Seraph pulled Cortez's dog tags back out of his coat, and stared at them. "Today has been FUCKED." he grumbled.

"It's awful." Weiss responded. "And it's worse for you, you had to watch Cortez die."

"I know." Seraph was silent for a moment. "I want to be the one to bring this home."

"What?"

"I want to be the one to break the news to his family. I need to."

"But why?" Weiss asked, perplexed.

"I feel responsible. I feel like I could've tried harder to save him. If I'd just ignored the arguing, if I'd destroyed the harness and dragged him out. If I'd just done more, I could've sav-"

"STOP IT!"

Seraph jumped, startled by Weiss' sudden outburst.

"Goddammit, Seraph, I get that you've never had someone die right in front of you before. But you don't get to just say it's your fault! You couldn't have known about the Uzekamanzi! None of us could!"

Seraph stared at his usually icy teammate.

"Honestly, we didn't know Cortez that well, but from what I could tell, he wouldn't want you to blame yourself for this, or continue to dwell on it." She gave him a hard look. "Now stop moping and groaning. It doesn't suit you."

Seraph kept staring for a few moments, then smiled a bit. "Thanks, Weiss. I appreciate it."

He sat back a bit. "Heh. Still, he took that sonofabitch with him. Slate Cortez killed an Uzekamanzi. In the realm of badass ways to die, I think that ranks up PRETTY high."

"Up there with what, exactly?"

Seraph snickered. "Death from too much sex, for one."

Weiss blushed a bit at that. "UGH, seriously?" she said in disgust. "Jeez, sometimes you make me wonder why I've started falling for you in the first place!"

Seraph froze, eyes widening. His head snapped toward Weiss, who had slapped both hands to her mouth, her blush now FAR more pronounced.

"What?" Seraph asked softly.

"I...I-I...um..."

"Weiss, did you just say..."

"Sh-Sh-Sh-Shut up..."

"Weiss." he said firmly this time. "Just say what you mean. I'm not exactly gonna ridicule you for it, you know."

Weiss took a few moments, then took a deep breath and sighed.

"Yes." she admitted. "Yes, you heard me right. I've been falling in love with you, Seraph. For a long time now."

Seraph looked a little shocked. "Well...I'm flattered, truly. But...why ME of all people?"

Weiss snorted derisively. "'Why me?' he asks. A better question would be, 'Why NOT you?'" Weiss looked at Seraph seriously. "Sure, sometimes you're an idiot. Sure, sometimes you're as hardheaded as Yang. But that's not everything about you. You're kind, and caring. You always look after your friends, and their wellbeing, even if it makes things difficult for you. You've ALWAYS helped us out.

"For example, there was the first night we were at Beacon, and you sang to Ruby to get her out of her night terrors. Then Blake, who had lost one of her books and couldn't find it anywhere, you went and got her a new copy. And Yang, who was beyond irritated one day, and needed to beat the crap out of someone, and you volunteered. Hell, even me, I was having such a hard time with that one assignment, getting so irritated, and you just came up and helped me figure it out, no questions asked."

She looked him dead in the eye. "You are, without a doubt, the nicest guy I've ever met, Seraph. I have every reason to fall in love with you." Then she turned away, sad look on her face. "Not that it matters, anyway."

"What the heck does THAT mean?" Seraph asked.

"Because you could never fall in love with a girl like me."

Seraph raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Weiss laughed humorlessly. "'Why?' Have you MET me? I'm the stuck-up, bitchy Schnee princess, that's why! My behavior's improved a little, sure. But I'm not the kind of girl you'd love." She began to tear up a little. "You'd be more likely to fall for Velvet. She's a wonderful person, and I'm sure she likes you too. Or Yang. Hell, RUBY would be a better option than me! So, with all that considered, why would you EVER fall for-Mmmph!"

Weiss was unable to finish, as Seraph had moved toward her, faced her toward him, and leaned forward and kissed her. As the kiss continued, her widened eyes soon relaxed to half-lidded, and she leaned into the kiss too. A few moments later, Seraph broke the kiss, and locked gazes with Weiss, who lightly touched her lips in disbelief.

"Who are YOU to think you can decide who I can and can't fall in love with?" he asked with a smile. "Do you really think that your usual stuck-up princess facade would keep me from falling for you in any way? Just who the hell do you think I am?"

"Seraph..." she muttered. "Wait, facade?"

"Weiss, I'm pretty sure that that whole bitchyness thing isn't really you. It's probably mostly just the behavior being drilled into you from an early age by your father, who wants you to be something you're not, I think. But, 'That's not everything about you'. I have seen glimpses of the wonderful woman beneath all of that." He reached out and placed his hand atop Weiss'. "You're smart, graceful, talented. Hell, I've heard you sing, it's incredible! Honestly, I'd love to get to know THAT you better. Therefore and thusly, Weiss Schnee...will you be my girlfriend?"

Weiss looked at Seraph in a mixture of shock and disbelief. She looked down, then a small smile grew on her face.

"Yes." she muttered. "Yes, I will." She moved forward and kissed Seraph again, which he eagerly returned. As they ended the kiss again, Seraph took her and pulled her closer.

"Woah!" She then found herself sitting in Seraph's lap, being held by him from behind. "W-What are you...?"

"I know we have a fire and all, but sitting like this should help us share body heat."

Weiss smiled. "Right." she nodded, snuggling back into him.

* * *

"Well well well." A voice said. "Now THIS isn't what I expected us to find."

Seraph blearily opened his eyes, blinking. He and Weiss had soon found themselves wanting to nap, in order to get their energy back. Seraph had pulled out one of his Papa's special equipment, and threw it to the cave mouth. It was a Grimm Detector, it would be able to alert them if a Creature of Grimm came within 40 Feet of the cave. It would also be a telltale sign to their friends that 'We are here'. Speaking of...

Seraph's vision cleared up, and he saw Yang and Pyrrha standing nearby, Yang with a bit of a mischievous smile on her face.

"Oh, hey Yang, Pyrrha." Seraph greeted.

"Hello again." Pyrrha giggled.

"Enjoying yourself there, tiger?" Yang asked.

Seraph looked down, and saw Weiss napping against his chest, smiling contentedly. "I might be." he replied. He then started gently poking Weiss in the cheek.

"C'mon, Weiss. Time to get up." he said to her. She began to stir, then with a cute yawn, she opened her eyes to look at Seraph, and smiled.

"Hey." Seraph said.

"Hey yourself."

"Feeling comfy, ice queen?" Yang asked.

Weiss froze at that, and looked over to where her two fellow Huntresses stood.

"Yang!" she said in panic. "P-Pyrrha! I-I can explain!"

Pyrra giggled again. "Indeed."

"Not many explanations for finding you sleeping in Seraph's arms, Weiss." Yang said, grinning away. "What, did you two end up getting together while we were gone?"

"Actually, yes." Seraph said proudly.

"SERAPH!"

"What?" he asked Weiss. "They're gonna find out anyway, might as well give them the good news straight off."

"I...good point."

Yang and Pyrrha on the other hand, stood there looking VERY surprised. "Wait." Yang started. "Did you just say you two are...together now? For REAL?"

Weiss, now far more composed, was able to respond back confidently. "That's right. Seraph's my boyfriend now. Is that a problem?"

A few moments of silence pass. "Uhh, no, not really." Yang replied. "Congrats, you two!"

"That's wonderful!" Pyrrha agreed.

 _'Yeah, I bet I know at least ONE other reason why you think so.'_ Seraph thought

"Well, anyway, let's go guys." Yang said. "We set up camp at an old abandoned temple a ways to the northeast." She turned to leave, Pyrrha following. Seraph likewise got up, and gave a hand to Weiss to help her up. Which she didn't take.

"Weiss?" Seraph asked. "What's wrong?"

"You've got to carry me." she said, not looking him in the eye. "My legs still aren't working right."

Seraph smirked. "I'm pretty sure I felt your legs moving just fine a little while ago."

"Y-Y-You're imagining things." Weiss blushed.

Seraph leaned down, and whispered in her ear. "Just admit you're lying to get me to carry you, and I'll do it."

Weiss shuddered a bit from his breath in her ear, blushing furiously. "I-I'm lying, I just want you to carry me some more." she whispered, not wanting the other girls to hear.

Seraph chuckled. "Very well, milady." he said, scooping her up in his arms bridal style. He proceeded to follow Yang and Pyrrha out of the cave, Weiss snuggling against his chest.

Yang and Pyrrha looked on bemusedly. "Not up to walking, princess?" Yang teased.

"Gojira got her legs with a breath attack." Seraph explained. "Temporary paralysis, should wear off soon."

"Suuuuuure."

As they walked, Seraph looked up at the sky. Considering the position of the sun, they'd been napping for a good 4 hours.

"So, everyone's back at the camp, right?" Seraph said. "What's the status on the special ingredients we came for?"

"Yes," Pyrrha replied. "and Ren and Blake already went and collected all we needed. We're all set once the rescue bird comes."

"Excellent."

"Soooo..." Yang spoke up. "How did you two suddenly get together, huh? I didn't really see it coming."

"I think we'll save that for when we meet up with everyone, to avoid repeating ourselves."

"What's wrong, Yang? Jealous?" Weiss teased.

"Honestly...yeah, kinda."

Seraph and Weiss looked sharply toward the blonde. "Wait, really?" Seraph asked.

"Yeah. You're a really awesome guy, Seraph. I would've loved to be your girlfriend. Ah well, too little, too late, I guess. Poor Jaune though, he's gonna be heartbroken."

"Well, he's just going to have to deal with it." Weiss huffed.

"Weiss..." Seraph said.

"What? All my life, boys have only cared about the perks of my last name. I already know you don't, so that's different."

Seraph sighed. "You really don't get it. Jaune DOESN'T care if your last name is Schnee. Hell, he wouldn't care if your last name was Tatopoulos. He's completely head-over-heels for you, even though you weren't even giving him a chance. I mean, I guess I'M part of the reason you didn't, but still. He's a little hapless, sure, but he is DEFINITELY a nice guy. So I'm sure he'll find someone else to be his girlfriend, someday." He said this last part looking at Pyrrha, who blushed.

"Yes, I'm confident he will too." she said, smiling.

Weiss thought on that. "I...suppose you're right." she admitted. "I should probably apologize for being so cold, at least."

"That should go a long way in helping, Snow Angel."

Weiss blushed. "S-Snow Angel? Isn't that what you called me when we first met?"

"Yep. I guess now it'll be a pet name. Is that bad?"

Weiss smiled. "No. I think I like it."

"Awww, pet names already?" Yang said. "That's so CUTE!"

"That reminds me." Weiss said. "Seraph, there's something important I need to tell you."

"Yes, dear?"

"Shoot Yang."

Silence reigned for a few seconds. Then Seraph burst into laughter. As did the others.

* * *

Not long later, the missing quartet found themselves at the abandoned temple camp, where the other members of Teams RWBYS and JNPR sat waiting, with a large signal fire billowing smoke into the sky.

"Guys!" Ruby shouted, noticing the entourage and getting up to meet them. Everyone else followed suit. "You're okay!"

"We were SOOO worried!" Nora added. "Did you guys get away from the Gojira okay?"

"Pretty much." Seraph said. "The Gojira hit Weiss with some temporary leg paralysis, but I hit it in the face with an Impact, and blew it's head off."

"Awesome!"

"I was wondering why you were carrying her like that." Blake replied, smiling.

"Yep!" Yang broke in. "Seraph's just being the ever-dutiful boyfriend, isn't that right, Romeo?"

A wall of silence answered her. Weiss facepalmed.

"You couldn't have waited for us to say something, could you?" she asked.

"Nope!"

The silence from their friends continued as they processed the information. Then...

"WHAAAAAT?!" Everyone exclaimed.

Seraph sighed. "Yes, you heard right. Weiss and I are now 'together-together'. UNLIKE REN AND NORA."

He stared pointedly at the inseparable pair. Ren coughed politely, and Nora merely scratched the back of her head.

"Wait, but how did that happen?!" Ruby asked.

"We asked the same thing, but they wanted to wait for you guys." Yang explained. "So, spill. What happened?"

The couple looked at each other and nodded. They began to recount their short tale, not going into total detail to avoid embarrassment. By the end of it, everyone sans Jaune was smiling.

"Wow, that's soooo romantic!" Nora piped up. "Best start to a relationship EVER! Of ALL TIME!"

"Ohhhh, I'm so happy for you!" Ruby squealed, hugging Weiss, who was now on her feet again.

"Ruby, get off!" Weiss complained. As she got her 'bestie' to let her go, she looked over to the very dejected Jaune.

"Jaune." she called. He looked up slowly. "Look, I'm...sorry that I didn't give you a chance. I foolishly thought that you were just another boy after me for the perks of the Schnee name. I was wrong. Can I ask you to forgive me for my mistakes?"

Jaune looked at her, mildly surprised. Then, he smiled a little. It seemed a bit forced, but there it was. "I'll get over it eventually, so I guess so." he said, holding out his hand. "Friends?"

"Friends." They shook hands.

Then, Weiss turned back to Seraph, looking at him worriedly. "Seraph? There's something important I need to ask you."

"Yeah, what's up?"

"When the Gojira turned up, you were almost frozen stiff. That look on your face...you were truly afraid of it."

Seraph stiffened up.

"Yes, I believe I noticed that too." Ren said

"You've never shown that kind of fear towards any other Grimm. Why is that?"

Everyone looked at him curiously, while Seraph fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Well..." Seraph began. "It's just that..." He sighed. "There's no point in hiding it." He sat down, everyone else sitting with him, Weiss naturally taking a spot beside him.

"I've mentioned losing my older brother to you guys before, right? I know I already told a bunch to Jaune." Everyone nodded. "Good. The day we lost Rayleigh was about 6 years ago, give or take. You'd know which day it was, Blake."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked.

"Think back, what terrible event happened in Vale almost 6 years ago?"

Blake gasped, realization setting in. "The bombing."

"What bombing?" Pyrrha asked.

"Back then," Seraph began. "the White Fang were still a peaceful activist organization fighting for Faunus Civil Rights. Things were slipping due to the methods back then not really working, but then 6 years ago, there was a big rally, and things went wrong.

"You know, there weren't many, but there were still some numbers of humans who were on the White Fang's side back then. My family was one of them, we were visiting the rally that day, Rayleigh, Lily, Nana, Papa and I. Mom and Dad were off on mission, Grandma and Grandpa were minding Gotei Arms. Things seemed to be going as they usually did. Then..."

"A bomb went off." Blake stepped in. "Thankfully, luckily, nobody was killed. There were several severe injuries, though. The bad bit came when the panic and fear set in. And when the fear and panic set in..."

"The Grimm come calling." Ruby finished.

"Exactly." Seraph continued. "There were a bunch of Grimm near the walls when it happened, so they came first, slipping past the defenses. But they had help to do it. Nobody knew how it had slipped the net, but a Gojira Daimao tried busting into the city. Most of the Huntsmen and Huntresses who responded were pushing back the normal horde, and most couldn't stop to take it on.

"I remember it...that AWFUL roar...the way it smacked around the Huntsmen who diverted to stop it...it was the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen. All except Rayleigh, of course. He was taking that thing head on, knowing he needed to protect Lily and I. He was able to push it out of the city, and pissed it off enough to make it follow him into the forests. When the attack was repelled, they sent search teams out for him. There was no trace, not even his weapons. He was declared Missing in Action, Presumed Dead, and lauded as a damned hero. As for the bombing, it became the tipping point for the White Fang. They figured a bunch of asshole humans set it off, and eventually the leader felt he had to step down, letting the radicals take over."

"THAT'S why I fear the Gojira-type Grimm so much. It's completely stupid, though. I became a Huntsman, KNOWING that one day, I may have to face a Gojira, or a Daimao, in battle."

"It's NOT stupid, Seraph." Weiss said. "We all have our fears. It speaks volumes that you overcame yours and killed the Gojira that was after me."

"Yeah, that was pretty cool of you." Yang said, giving a thumbs up.

"We're all still behind you, Seraph." Jaune said. "No matter what."

Seraph smiled. "Thanks, guys. Thanks a lot."

After a moment, Yang spoke up again. "So, Weiss, Seraph's got Snow Angel as YOUR pet name, what's your pet name for him?"

"Wha-Yang!"

"Pet names already?!" Ruby gushed. "That's so CUUUTE!"

"That's what I said!"

"Yeah, Weiss." Seraph said, grinning. "What IS my pet name? I'm curious."

"I think we ALL are." Blake said, smiling smugly at Weiss.

Weiss was blushing so hard she nearly matched Ruby's hood. "I hate you all." she muttered.

"Even me?" Seraph asked in mock shock.

"ESPECIALLY you."

Everyone started laughing, eventually even Weiss joining in.

*VREEEEEEEEEEEE*

They were interrupted by the roar of VTOL engines coming closer. They looked up and sure enough, a Bullhead was descending towards their position. The two teams got up as it landed and opened the hatch.

"So ends the fabulous joint-team camping trip!" Seraph said

"Yeah yeah, let's just get OUTTA here." Yang said, making tracks for the Bullhead. Everyone began following her example, equally eager to leave.

As they walked, Seraph linked hands with Weiss, who held on with an equally firm grip. This mission was a goddamed mess, but it definitely had its good points.

 **...**

 **Well, there you go, folks. I just revealed who I was gonna pair Seraph with all along. I wanted to keep you guessing, so I hinted at other potential pairings. Trogdor paired Darrel with Yang, so that was out. Andy paired Dante with Ruby, so also out. And I am NOT interfering with either Black Sun or Bumblebee, whichever it turns out to be! In the end, when I finally made my choice on who was gonna be paired with Seraph before I started writing, it was a toss-up between Weiss and Velvet. Weiss won, since she gives me more to work with than Velvet does, and I REAAAALLY wanna have Jacques Schnee punched in the fucking face.**

 **Now, some of you might think this is a little out of nowhere, like it should've been built up. Maybe so, but be honest, do you REALLY think Weiss would be honest and open about how she really feels towards Seraph? And for those who think they don't know each other well enough, they've spent a whole semester on the same team at Beacon. I'm pretty sure they know each other well enough by now, or soon will have.**

 **With that, I bid you all adeiu, until the next chapter or so. Until then, Game Over, You Lose.**

 **LLaP**


End file.
